Name: The Fall of the House of Usher
Start: 2025-02-09T17:00:00
Location: Theater Aachen

Theater Aachen presents an eclectic lineup of events, from the enchanting opera 'The Magic Flute' to the gripping narrative of 'The Fall of the House of Usher'. This season promises a rich tapestry of performances, blending classic tales with modern interpretations. Audiences can look forward to a variety of genres, including the whimsical 'The Blue Bird' and the thought-provoking 'Oppenhoff. Mohren. Cohn'. Each production offers unique insights into human nature and society, making this a must-attend series of events for art lovers and cultural enthusiasts alike.

Theater Aachen's Diverse Lineup: A Journey Through Art and Stories

Theater Aachen's upcoming season is a vibrant tapestry of creativity, featuring a mix of musical masterpieces, classic tales, and contemporary narratives. From the enchanting world of Mozart's 'The Magic Flute' to the thought-provoking 'Oppenhoff. Mohren. Cohn,' these performances promise a diverse exploration of themes and artistic expressions. Join us as we delve into the highlights of this season, spotlighting the artists and their contributions that make these events truly remarkable.

Exploring the Artistic Landscape: Theater Aachen's Diverse 2024-2025 Season

Luise Berndt

Torsten Borm

Elke Borkenstein

Petya Alabozova

Benedikt Voellmy

Furkan Yaprak

Wilke Weermann

Josa Marx

Lucien Strauch

Theater Aachen

London, 1912. In front of the Opera House, linguist Professor Higgins notices flower seller Eliza Doolittle, who chatters away in a rough "Cockney" dialect. Fascinated and horrified, Higgins bets that his linguistic methods can transform Eliza into a "gentlewoman" in just a few months. She is to demonstrate her skills at the Ascot races and the Diplomatic Ball. The question remains, however, who is "educating" whom. For the emancipated Eliza also turns Higgins' life upside down.

My Fair Lady

Everyone's talking about artificial intelligence. Tech companies and governments are pumping billions into this promising key technology of the future. It's supposed to revolutionize virtually all areas of human life. Yet the idea isn't fundamentally new: As early as 1816, Mary Shelley had her Swiss scientist Victor Frankenstein create an artificial intelligence—his famous monster has been roaming pop culture for a good 200 years. Like today's "large language models" (e.g., ChatGPT), it learns through observation and imitation. Its clumsy brutality touches and frightens us, just as AI simultaneously provokes euphoria and apocalyptic fear. But what if these two reaction patterns weren't contradictory at all: Is the desire for invention perhaps rooted in a longing for self-abolition? Are we deliberately replacing ourselves with a new, better form of existence—more rational and less destructive than the obsolete human species? In his playful reinterpretation, director Tristan Linder connects Mary Shelley's classic with current technological debates, employing the very tools that are also the subject. A theatrical evening that oscillates between science fiction and creation myth, between hope and fear.

Frankenstein

Kammer

Hardly any other poet has so interwoven her literature with music, opera, and film, and hardly any has so insightfully taken a stand against patriarchy. To mark the 100th birthday of the Austrian writer Ingeborg Bachmann, composers Karola Obermüller and Peter Gilbert, together with librettist Tina Hartmann, are developing the first musical-theatrical adaptation of her novel "Malina," exploring how closely Bachmann's poetic discourse is interwoven with singing. We encounter a nameless first-person narrator who lives with her male alter ego, Malina, while experiencing a seeming happiness with Ivan, one characterized by conformity and artistic silencing.

Malina

Nuclear physicist Alice conducts research at CERN in Geneva when she's not arguing with her pubescent son Luke, who doesn't want to live in Switzerland. Her sister Jenny lives in Luton, East Anglia, sells health insurance over the phone, is an anti-vaccination campaigner, and cares for their demented mother, Karen. The sisters couldn't be more different. Or as Jenny once put it: "I'm Forrest Gump and you're the damn Wizard of Oz." But is it really that simple? "The mosquito, this tiny, fragile creature that you can kill with your thumb, is responsible for more deaths than any other animal," says Alice's partner. Are people without self-responsibility and reason just as dangerous as mosquitoes? In "Mosquitoes," psychology and science, fate and self-responsibility mingle in a dazzling drama about social divides that extend into family life. Director Jenke Nordalm and the ensemble pull out all the stops for this story that is as emotional as it is highly intelligent.

Mosquitoes

It is one of the greatest love stories of all time and the epitome of romantic, passionate love: "The most excellent and lamentable tragedy of Romeo and Juliet." The children of two feuding families in medieval Verona, in the age of plague and political marriages, fall instantly in love, marry secretly, are driven apart by family feuds, and ultimately die a tragic death. Their passionate love lasts only a short time – they spend only a single night together. What would have become of them if they had had more time? A whole life, perhaps? Would their love have survived? And if so, how? Director Anaïs Durand-Mauptit's production of the Shakespearean blockbuster frames the 500-year-old love story with a narrative about love in the present day. How do we love today, and what hurdles do we overcome in doing so? How diverse are the forms of relationships, concepts of love, and couple constellations of our time – and do we still long for that great romantic feeling that seeks to overcome even death?

Romeo and Juliet

Walls dripping with blood, seven locked doors, darkness everywhere – Duke Bluebeard's castle is an eerie place! But Bluebeard's lover Judith is determined: she wants to follow him into his fortress, to bring light into the eerie darkness with her love. That's why she demands the keys to the seven locked doors. She penetrates ever deeper into the secrets of her lover and his castle, opening door after door – what will she find behind them? In 1911, Béla Bartók and his librettist Béla Balázs used the fairy tale "La barbe bleu" to create an expressionistic psychological drama in which the eponymous castle plays the main role as a symbol of the male psyche. The libretto uses cinematic lighting effects, which is why we are staging the work using film. An important component of this semi-staged "light opera" are video projections by Max Ophüls Prize winners Sascha Vredenburg and Cedric Klaus.

Duke Bluebeard's Castle

"Absolutely fantastic!" – "So unsuccessful!" – "Finally, something new!" – "We want our money back!" The theater is a place for big emotions. But emotional outbursts don't just happen on stage; they can also be experienced in escalating audience discussions or passionate letters to the editor. In a project developed by the staff, we are devoting ourselves to the tense relationship between institution and audience. Who owns the theater? Where does constructive feedback end and unbridled insults begin? An evening about a turbulent relationship – full of irony, humor, and critical self-examination.

Praise & Criticism

Wilke Weermann combines stories by the great American master of horror literature Edgar Allan Poe to create a new horror story about dark family secrets and repressed guilt.

The Fall of the House of Usher

Articles & News