Name: Praise & Criticism
Start: 2026-07-17T20:00:00
Location: Kammer

Yannik Funken

Theater Aachen

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

Kammer

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.