Ariane Theatre: ‘Arendt – Thinking in Dark Times’

An encounter with a woman who spares no effort in the pursuit of truth, and a journey into personal and collective memory. Marking the 50th anniversary of the death of one of the 20th century’s most astute and provocative thinkers.

On 18 April 1975, Hannah Arendt, travelling from New York, arrives in Copenhagen. She is to receive the prestigious Sonning Prize, Denmark’s most important award for cultural achievement.

We find Hannah Arendt in her hotel room shortly before the award ceremony. What should she say to the award committee? What theme should her acceptance speech focus on? Swiftly, and as if in a dream, the hotel room becomes the stage of her life. We encounter Hannah Arendt in pivotal moments, learning of her expulsion from Germany, her arrest in France, her flight to the USA, and her life in exile. We gain an insight into her thinking and how she makes decisions. Through dialogues with her husband Heinrich Blücher or the Israeli chief prosecutor at the Eichmann trial, we get to know a woman who – as her friend Hans Jonas wrote – is ‘passionately moral, but not at all moralistic; often provocative, never trivial, never indifferent, never to be forgotten’.

Cast: Mona Petri & Antonio da Silva
Director: Jordi Vilardaga
Dramaturgy: Mara Gyr
Photo: Mareycke Frehner

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