Cleverly, Tom Lanoye transposes Shakespeare's tale of the king and his (un)faithful daughters to the present day, wittily swapping the genders. The king mutates into an influential ruler of a business empire, and the daughters into sons: Industrial magnate Elizabeth Lear wants to abdicate and pass her inheritance on to the younger generation. But first, she wants to hear from her offspring how much they love her. Two of the sons flatter her with carefully chosen words to secure as large a share of their mother's inheritance as possible. But Cornald, the youngest of the brothers, refuses the deceitful deal: money for love. Corrupted by the power of being a company head, Elizabeth Lear cannot distinguish between genuine and feigned affection and, in a fit of rage, disinherits her former favorite son In doing so, she sets in motion a mechanism of downfall…

Queen Lear

Detmold Theatre

One family, two languages, one hundred years, and more than two thousand kilometers between Istanbul and Gelsenkirchen. Akin Emanuel Şipal tells the story of a family in which the Silesian great-grandmother once attacked the Turkish grandfather with an umbrella. The son-in-law returns to Turkey as an author and translates the great works of German literature. The next generation is torn between the two countries. Added to this is much of what Turks think they know about Germans and Germans about Turks. The author's alter ego gets entangled in all of this. "Mother Father Country" paints a fast-paced and subtly humorous picture of a world where cultures blend and become something new. In 2022, "Mother Father Country" was awarded the Audience Prize at the prestigious Mülheim Theatre Festival

Mother Father Country

Konzerthalle im Kurpark

Alceste has lost his heart to the young Célimène. She reciprocates his feelings, but she also enjoys socializing, has many admirers, and loves to flirt—especially on her television show, "Célimène Uncensored," where she invites local high society to share the latest gossip in front of an audience. Alceste, an investigative journalist, is a guest on her show to promote his new book, which exposes the hypocritical machinations of politics. Uncompromising and relentless, he refuses to make any concessions to politeness and etiquette—he insists on radical honesty. With passionate determination, he confronts a hypocritical society, preaches absolute truth, and deliberately places himself in an outsider position Witty and full of punchlines, Molière wrote a profound play about appearance and reality, and a wonderfully grotesque comedy of character. Ekat Cordes' production places the story in the garish, plastic world of television, where not all that glitters is gold, and shows that while the world may have changed since Molière's time, people have remained the same.

The Misanthrope

Stadthalle Plochingen

Village judge Adam finds himself in a predicament: the case of a broken jug is brought before him. The plaintiff, Marthe Rull, accuses Ruprecht, her daughter Eve's fiancé, of forcibly entering Eve's room and breaking the offending vessel. Ruprecht, in turn, claims to have caught a stranger red-handed, who escaped undetected by jumping out of the window. What no one suspects at first, however, is that the culprit is none other than Village Judge Adam himself. He had been harassing Eve the previous evening, was surprised by Ruprecht, and knocked over the fateful jug in his flight. What to do? Although Adam becomes increasingly entangled in his web of lies as the trial progresses, he brazenly tries to shift the blame onto himself until the very end…

The Broken Jug

Detmolder Sommertheater

Two giants of London's underworld clash: On one side, Jonathan Peachum, who has turned begging in the metropolis into a lucrative business. On the other, Macheath, known as Mackie Messer, the gang leader, who, thanks to his excellent connections with the police, is considered completely innocent. When Peachum's daughter Polly marries Macheath, the conflict erupts into open conflict. Can the marriage be annulled, perhaps even by hanging? The beggar king denounces the master criminal: Mackie Messer is forced into hiding, betrays Polly, and is betrayed himself. And above it all, the moon shines over Soho!

Patrick Hellenbrand

Events

Upcoming events

May 15 - Jul 1, 2026

Queen Lear · Landestheater Detmold

Past events

May 15 - Jul 1, 2026

Queen Lear · Landestheater Detmold

Apr 10, 2026

Mother Father Country · Landestheater Detmold

Future and recently performed repertoire

Jonathan Jeremiah Peachum in The Threepenny Opera by Weill

Landestheater Detmold

About

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