Mephisto (premiere)

by Thomas Jonigk after Klaus Mann

DIRECTOR: Thomas Jonigk
Stage and costumes: Ric Schachtebeck
MUSIC | TON | VIDEO: Mathis Nitschke
DRAMATURGY: Thomaspeter Goergen
LIGHT: Christian Franzen

The fascination of the downfall that one even denies seeing eye. The eroticism of evil, sex appeal of destruction. Babylon Berlin, the Pompeii between the world wars. Russian gangs, German fascists* inside, international careerists* inside, party people between Moka Efti and Berghain, conspiracies, party cries, the latent excitement: everything can fly around our ears … Klaus Mann outlined in his novel the timeless dancing on the volcano and the Fall of the Sin of the Glamorous. A panorama of his contemporaries*, artists* and intellectuals, children of the gods of the Golden Twenties, who didn’t want to let up on the intoxication when swastikas were already blowing over Babylon. Above all, however, the text is a portrait of a famous actor: Gustaf Gründgens. As Henrik Höfgen in the novel, he is too devoted to life on stage to notice that death has long been sitting on the floor. He plays his biggest role so perfectly that he falls for his mirror image of the theatre: Mephisto. Goethe’s sophisticated devil, who ends up in real life as the monkey of true hell. He just wants to be loved, but without responsibility. And at the end he suspects that the hype of the one is paid for with the suffering of many. “I’m only an actor,” he exclaims, representing all of us, us affluent children, narcissists, lightly offended and beloved would-be women. Yes, just an actor. As long as spotlights glow and masks shine. As long as the curtain doesn’t fall.

Translated with www.DeepL.com/Translator