Throughout his life, Goethe worked on his magnum opus, FAUST, the drama he uniquely called a "tragedy" among his works. Enigmatic and luminous, it stands there in epic scope—a seemingly endless succession of scenes and reflections. What holds this tragedy together at its core? There is Faust, the eternally restless one, who sees the world as prey and time as a pledge. There is Mephistopheles, the antithesis, literally in Faust's shadow. There is Gretchen, innocent and beautiful in the face of ruin. And there is the light that filters through all the cracks in fate. The majority of the tragedy takes place in the dead of night. This darkness is repeatedly pierced by fire and flashes of light—like the flash of a photograph. In 1928, the Russian photographer Alexander Rodchenko described photography as a "struggle between eternity and the moment" and continued: "With its emergence, there can no longer be a general, unchanging image. A person is not merely a unity; they are multifaceted and dialectical." “Stay a while, my moment.” Kay Voges stages FAUST as precisely this struggle and, together with live photographer Marcel Urlaub, transforms the stage space into both a room of light and a darkroom.

fist

Schauspiel Köln

Imagine the world were a village. Imagine peace reigned there. Now imagine night falling over the houses and the streetlights shining. Picture it clearly. Behind the windows, people were eating their bread and drinking their tea. And the children were reading peacefully in bed before their father kissed them and their mother turned out the light. Now imagine a shadow creeping across the deserted village square. And there, in the greenhouse, plants grew menacingly—and on the altar lay an ominous book containing holy scriptures. And a package full of uniforms appeared as if from nowhere before the fence. And then a strange song sounded in the sky. Picture it clearly—like a crack in the firmament. Imagine it drawing people from their beds, and together they gazed up at the sky. And with hearts pounding in their chests, they wondered what was approaching them. An angel? A drone? A deadly missile that burns and destroys everything? We're at the beginning of a great story. There is no fatherland and no reason for murder and war. And everyone lives only in the here and now. Imagine that. It's easy if you try. Welcome to IMAGINE.

Kay Voges

Events

Upcoming events

Apr 30 - May 17, 2026

fist · Bühnen Köln

3 - 25 May, 2026

Imagine · Bühnen Köln

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