PREMIERE AT THE GERMAN THEATER

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After a corona-related postponement, the fourth year of drama studies at the Theaterakademie Hamburg celebrated the premiere of their final production "Idomeneus" by Roland Schimmelpfennig on 21 May 2021

Caption: Idomeneus (final production of Schauspiel 2020/21, directed by Nina Mattenklotz, MalerSaal)
Photo: Sinje Hasheider

After a confusing year of coronavirus studies with limited opportunities, students Annalena Haering, Fabienne-Deniz Hammer, David T. Meyer, Andre Pöhls, Michel Ben Seidel, Dennis Svensson and Lilja van der Zwaag finally get the chance to celebrate the premiere of their final play in the MalerSaal of the Deutsches SchauSpielHaus. The class also includes Meryem Ebru Öz, who is already tied up in rehearsals for her engagement.

Nina Mattenklotz, an alumna of the Theaterakademie Hamburg, is directing the final production and the position of dramaturge has also been filled by a graduate of the Theaterakademie. Finnja Denkewitz studied at the University of Music and Drama until her final year: "It's a really exciting play. On the one hand, the narrative style and the multitude of different versions of the myth of Idomeneus with their connections to each other are very complex. On the other hand, the play raises big, unabatedly explosive questions about "the value of human life", "violence and freedom" and "male heroism", which have to be addressed in order to develop an artistic statement."
Several performances in front of an audience are expected to take place in June 2021.

IDOMENEUS
by Roland Schimmelpfennig

After ten years in the Trojan War, King Idomeneus and his fleet are finally on their way back to Crete. The sea is raging. Idomeneus can only watch as seventy-nine of his eighty ships are swept into the waves. In a desperate agony, he swears to the gods that he will sacrifice the first living creature he encounters on the beach - on condition that they let him live. The wind dies down, the water becomes calm and Idomeneus arrives in Crete. And his son Idamantes is already waiting for him on the beach.

Based on this promise of sacrifice, Roland Schimmelpfennig spins a myth from various possibilities and gradually reveals new questions. What is life worth to us? What laws do we subject ourselves to in the battle between superstition and reason? Is there a way to escape them?
The waves slowly roll onto the beach: a promise is a promise.

Director Nina Mattenklotz
Set design Johanna Pfau
Lighting Andreas Juchheim, Björn Salzer
Choreography Regina Rossi
Dramaturgy Finnja Denkewitz

Performers Annalena Haering, Fabienne-Deniz Hammer, David Meyer, Andre Pöhls, Michel Ben Seidel, Dennis Svensson, Lilja van der Zwaag
Final production of the drama course at the Theaterakademie Hamburg, Hochschule für Music and Drama, in cooperation with the Deutsches SchauSpielHaus.