Phaedra

Team

Written by

freely based on Seneca and Racine • in a rewrite by Thomas Jonigk

Director

Ersan Mondtag

Artistic collaborator

Alexander Naumann

Stage design & Video

Ersan Mondtag

Musical arrangement & composition

Beni Brachtel

Costumes

Teresa Vergho

Lighting design

Jan Steinfatt

Dramaturgy

Sarah Lorenz

With

Benny Claessens, Margot Gödrös, Benjamin Höppner, Yvon Jansen, Lola Klamroth, Kei Muramoto, Kristin Steffen

Phaedra's fate is set in stone. Since the ancient Greek myth existed, it has been carried forward to the present day: Euripides, Ovid, Seneca and Jean Racine are just a few writers who have processed the material.

There are also operas, films, frescoes and sarcophagi that deal with history. The ending usually stays the same: Phaedra commits suicide. She cannot bear the shame of encountering unrequited love from her stepson. Her closest confidant, Oenone, also dies in the course of the play: she wanted to protect her mistress and spread the rumor that Hippolytos, the son of Phaedra's husband, had stalked the lovesick royal wife. The king believes the rumor, which means the death of his own son.In a rewrite for the Cologne Theater, the author Thomas Jonigk now lets Phaedra know about her inescapable fate. You, like all the other characters, are aware of the course of the story - but cannot escape it.

Photo credits: Birgit Hupfeld

Time

26. November 2022 – 22. January 2023