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

Theater Aachen's upcoming season offers a captivating array of performances that dive deep into both classic and contemporary themes. From the digital reimagining of 'The Magic Flute' to the socio-political undertones in 'Oppenhoff. Mohren. Cohn', this season promises an immersive experience. Noteworthy productions like 'The Blue Bird', 'Our Germany Fairytale', and 'House of Karls' showcase the theater's commitment to blending traditional storytelling with modern artistic innovation. Join us as we explore these diverse narratives and the talented individuals bringing them to life.

Diverse Narratives: Exploring Theater Aachen's Upcoming Season

Theater Aachen's upcoming 2024-2025 season promises an exciting array of theatrical productions. From Maeterlinck's symbolist play 'The Blue Bird' to Offenbach’s mythical travesty 'Orpheus in the Underworld,' audiences are invited to journey through a spectrum of emotions and themes. As the season unfolds, stories ranging from the historical to the fantastical will be brought to life by talented performers, offering a rich tapestry of experiences. Whether you're drawn to modern reinterpretations or classic tales, Theater Aachen's season is set to captivate and inspire.

Exploring Diverse Narratives: Theater Aachen's 2024-2025 Season

Theater Aachen is set to offer audiences a transformative theatrical experience with a slate of performances that span genres, eras, and themes. From Dinçer Güçyeter's poignant 'Our Germany Fairytale' to the modern retelling of classical tales like 'Orpheus in the Underworld' and 'Puss in Boots,' the theater showcases a blend of innovation and cultural reflection. These performances promise to engage audiences with compelling narratives that explore identity, power dynamics, and societal change, all under the seasoned direction of acclaimed artists and performers.

Aachen's Theatrical Renaissance: Exploring Diverse Narratives Through Innovative Performances

Theater Aachen is set to captivate audiences with a rich lineup for its 2025 season, featuring a compelling mix of narratives and performances. From Dinçer Güçyeter's poignant 'Our Germany Fairytale' to the vibrant 'House of Karls,' each event explores unique themes, showcasing diverse artistic talents. Theater enthusiasts will experience a blend of thought-provoking drama, cultural reflections, and innovative productions, promising an engaging journey through stories that resonate with universal themes of power, identity, and artistic pursuit.

Theater Aachen's 2025 Lineup: A Diverse Tapestry of Stories and Performances

Theater Aachen's 2025-2026 season promises a rich tapestry of performances, delving into history, mythology, literature, and social commentary. Highlights include Miriam Unterthiner's 'Blood Bread', a gripping exploration of the 'Rat Line' used by Nazis to escape justice; Aeschylus' ancient tragedy 'The Oresteia', reimagined with modern flair; the classic musical 'My Fair Lady'; and the timeless opera 'The Magic Flute'. With productions ranging from vibrant musicals to thought-provoking dramas, each event offers a unique perspective, ensuring a captivating experience for every theatergoer.

Theater Aachen's Diverse 2025-2026 Season: A Journey Through Drama, Music, and Innovation

Theater Aachen invites you on a captivating journey through time and art with a stellar lineup of theatrical performances and operatic delights. From the charming streets of 1912 London in 'My Fair Lady' to the futuristic landscape of '2044. Chronicle of the Future,' these productions promise an immersive experience. With contributions from talented artists and compelling narratives that challenge societal norms, these performances reimagine classics and introduce new stories, all under one roof. Whether you're a fan of musicals, operas, or contemporary plays, Theater Aachen's upcoming season offers something for everyone.

Theater Aachen: A Cultural Odyssey Through Time and Art

Too operatic, too dramatic, not appropriate for the occasion – the worshippers at Leipzig's St. Nicholas Church were not enthusiastic on Good Friday in 1724 when Johann Sebastian Bach had his "St. John Passion" performed there for the first time. Indeed, Bach goes beyond a simple setting of the Passion of Jesus and fully exploits the dramatic potential inherent in the text of the Gospel of John, using all musical means at his disposal. The numerous choral scenes, in particular, lend the work an almost theatrical impact. And although it is a biblical story that is being told here, it is the great, universal human themes that are at stake: loyalty and betrayal, suffering and compassion, denial and forgiveness.

St. John Passion

Theater Aachen

A Bundeswehr officer who refuses orders. A member of the "Last Generation" who is imprisoned for their activism. A railway unionist who organizes strikes. A pig farmer who blocks roads. What they all have in common is that they have crossed a line: They have either broken the law or are publicly perceived as "disobedient" and put under pressure by their actions. "Disobedience" means taking a personal risk, pushing the boundaries of what is permitted, expected, and usual, transgressing them, questioning them. Disobedience occurs on both small and large scale: on German highways, at the Federal Office for Migration, by whistleblowers, in the Hambach Forest or in Lützerath – or in villages declared autonomous republics by Reich citizens. Disobedience hangs in the media spotlight as well as in small private acts of defiance. Sometimes it is driven by noble goals, sometimes by irrational fears, occasionally by major moral questions. Authors Marcel Raabe and Manuel Waltz conducted numerous interviews, accompanied by intensive research on the topic of civil disobedience. From the documentary material, they are developing a participatory theater piece that engages audiences.

The Disobedient

Mörgens Theater Aachen

"Is this my home, my land, my place? Am I supposed to fill the void of an emptiness here?" In Dinçer Güçyeter's novel "Our Germany Fairytale," two generations of women—mother and grandmother—constitute the voice of Fatma, who comes to Nettetal in 1965 as the wife of a Turkish guest worker. Through powerful images, poetry, monologues, dialogues, prayers, and dreams, the novel tells of hard work and great strength, of old gender roles and the dawn of a new beginning, of uprooting and longing. It is a homage to women and tells a piece of German history in a new, sensual, and humorous language. Güçyeter's debut novel, published by "mikrotext," was awarded the Leipzig Book Fair Prize in 2023. Director Antigone Akgün, who already thrilled audiences in Aachen with her production of "The Garden of Earthly Delights," is adapting the novel for the Kammer stage.

Our Germany fairytale

Kammer

From the mid-1930s onward, Aachen was a "gateway to freedom" through which people dared to escape persecution by the Nazi regime – across the green border to Belgium or Holland, and from there into the world. In Aachen, the refugees encountered both human trafficking networks and a few "silent heroes" who expected nothing in return for their help. Against the backdrop of this historical situation, "Oppenhof. Mohren. Cohn" tells a story of resistance, dissidence, despair, and courage. Inspired by the lives of historical figures such as the former mayor of Aachen, Franz Oppenhoff, the communist Josef Mohren, and the resistance fighter Marianne Cohn, the piece addresses the questions of whether a young woman on the run will be helped, whether a work of art branded as "degenerate" can be saved from destruction, and who stands in solidarity with whom. Protest and partisan songs and new songs combine to form an overall musical concept; a gripping plot is intertwined with documentary material.

Oppenhoff. Mohren. Cohn

After a sleepless night reading Pushkin's novel "Eugene Onegin," the concept for Tchaikovsky's new opera was born: "I am looking for an intimate yet powerful drama, based on conflicts I have experienced or seen myself, conflicts that can touch me deeply." Tchaikovsky transforms the novel into a lyrical chamber play in which unbridled love, sharp rejection, and a deadly duel shake the emotional worlds of young people: The young Tatiana, engrossed in her books, falls head over heels in love with the daredevil Onegin. In a passionate letter, she confesses her love to him. But he harshly rejects her, instead having fun with her sister Olga and killing his good friend Lensky in a duel. After years of wandering, Onegin realizes his missed opportunity.

Eugene Onegin

Aachen in the year 2044. After the National Alliance for Germany (NAfD) emerged as the strongest party in the 2029 federal election, democracy was gradually dismantled and an authoritarian regime established. Freedom of expression no longer exists, artistic production is under state control, people who cannot provide proof of German ancestry are "denaturalized" on a daily basis, and digital surveillance is omnipresent.

2044. Chronicle of the Future

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

How does a child react to their mother's suicide attempt? They write her a list of all the beautiful things in the world: 1. ice cream, 2. water fights, 3. being allowed to stay up later than usual and watch television. Intuitively, it's about the many little things that make life worth living. But will their mother actually read the list? And what happens when they realize that depression doesn't just go away? The list gets longer the older the child gets: 4,997. Eventually, the child grows up, goes to college, falls in love, experiences another suicide attempt by their mother - and the list approaches a million: 999,998. Inappropriate songs in emotional moments. "All the beauty" in the world - is it even conceivable? Duncan Macmillan has written a life-affirming monologue about a deadly serious subject. By involving the audience in the search for all that wonderful moments can mean, Macmillan creates – without any sentimentality – a space for perhaps the most beautiful thing of all: shared happiness.

All the beauty

The doting Nemorino loves Adina. Hopelessly. Because she seems to only have eyes for the boastful Belcore. And anyway, Adina would rather live free and unattached. A magic potion is needed that will make the other person fall in love. How convenient that the miracle doctor Dulcamara has a cure for everything and, for his already scarce money, talks Nemorino into buying a love potion. As it turns out, it's just ordinary red wine.

L'elisir d'amore / The love potion

A story about growing up and becoming an adult, about feeling "very big and very small," about encounters with the unfamiliar, and the question: Who am I when I'm constantly changing? Lewis Carroll, a mathematician by profession, sends little Alice on a journey full of unpredictable twists and turns and logical contradictions in his magnum opus. The fantastically crazy creatures she encounters in Wonderland—the White Rabbit, the Mad Hatter, the Cheshire Cat, the Queen of Hearts, and the egg-shaped Humpty Dumpty—are cult figures. Director Nikolas Darnstädt stages "Alice" as a musical adventure about the power of imagination: As long as we dream and tell each other stories, we continually discover that the world could be completely different. Like Darnstädt, costume designer Laura Kirst is also working in Aachen for the first time. For set designer Sina Manthey, however, it's a reunion; she previously created the magical underwater worlds for the family play "The Fisherman and His Wife." The soundtrack and original songs are provided by actor-musician Malcolm Kemp.

Alice in Wonderland

In the "Navel," people live like they're in an amusement park with roller coasters, cotton candy, and mascots – while on the other side of the wall that borders this paradise, in the "Rand," precarious conditions and poverty prevail. People from the "Rand" regularly move to the "Navel," partly to provide a better life for their families. The father of "She," the protagonist of this play, once left his family to work in the "Navel" – and never returned. Years later, "She" is grown up and follows in his footsteps. She hasn't spoken her native language from the "Rand" for a long time anyway. In the "Navel," there's work, roller coasters, perhaps a future...

Mysteryland

Theater Aachen is a house of art, social debate, encounters, and much more. Is it also a haunted house? After all, its column-lined walls are now turning 200 years old. Wilke Weermann will explore the terribly beautiful stories they might tell. The author and director is known for his atmospherically densely composed theater evenings, citing genres such as science fiction and horror and contrasting them with subtle, subtle humor. He received the 2023 Kurt Hübner Directing Award for his play "Unheim," which explores the debate about housing shortages as a futuristic-comedy ghost story. At Theater Aachen, Weermann will devote himself to the great American master of gothic literature, Edgar Allan Poe, weaving his most gripping tales into a new horror story about dark family secrets and repressed guilt.

The Fall of the House of Usher

A deep blue, sparkling starry sky with a crescent moon overhead, upon which the star-flaming Queen of the Night floats effortlessly in – yes, this stage set is an icon, a true classic like "The Magic Flute" itself. It was designed by the architect Karl Friedrich Schinkel in 1815 for a Berlin performance. Around ten years later, he and Peter Cremer designed the new theater building for the Theater Aachen. The famous sets from Schinkel's "Magic Flute" became a source of inspiration for Aachen artist Tim Berresheim, who, with exuberant imagination and computer-aided art, further developed the mystically twisted worlds between vining nature, temples, and starry skies. Together with director Geertje Boeden and costume designer Sarah Antonia Rung, he explores the riddles of this magical fairytale opera: Does good and evil exist? Who can Tamino, Papageno, and Pamina trust on their journey? Equipped with magical instruments that can bring peace to the world and with great hope of finding love along the way, the three attempt to overcome the power games of their parents' generation. A multi-layered, visually stunning "Magic Flute" in a version for school classes and the whole family.

The Magic Flute

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

When Agamemnon returns from the Trojan War, bringing with him the seer Cassandra as "war booty," he falls into a trap. His wife Clytemnestra and her lover Aegisthus murder him in revenge for Agamemnon's sacrifice of his own daughter Iphigenia to ensure fair winds toward Troy. One bloodbath breeds another, and the siblings Orestes and Electra avenge their father's death on their mother. To end the family curse, a citizens' court is convened to decide Orestes' fate. "The Oresteia" is not only the only completely surviving ancient drama trilogy, it is also the first written account of a democratic vote. Its author, Aeschylus, had witnessed the end of a tyranny and the first steps toward democracy in Athens in his youth. In Florian Hertweck's production of all three parts, including a prologue with the backstory of the Tantalus Curse, great ancient tragedy meets participatory theater, "true crime" meets rap theater. He most recently staged the rap spectacle "House of Karls," and now Hertweck and the ensemble are turning their attention to one of the oldest texts in literature: classical, pop, political, performative, and cinematic.

The Oresteia

How does a woman expecting a child view this world? What kind of world will this child be born into? Wars and conflicts, an unstoppable climate change. How will one survive in this world? Anna Carlier's monologue, in vivid language, speaks of possible futures for this child in a post-apocalyptic world and of the hope that the child will survive.

Deerskin

The Brenner Pass: A swathe of mountains in an idyllic landscape and a border crossing between Austria and Italy. Eighty years ago, a relatively unknown crime took place here. High-ranking Nazi officials like Josef Mengele and Adolf Eichmann fled the Allies' grasp and their just punishment on secret smugglers' routes across the green border, first to Italy and from there to the world. And they had help from the local population. Miriam Unterthiner's new play "Blood Bread" is about the so-called "Rat Line," as this escape route was dubbed. It will receive the Kleist Prize for Young Dramatic Artists in 2025 and will premiere at Theater Aachen. The "Blood Bread" is a metaphor for repressed guilt: The soil on which this happened produces the bread we are meant to eat today. Can we chew, swallow, and digest it? Or can we no longer get it down? Poetically condensed and at the same time concrete, virtuosic and powerful, with subtle humor and great images, "Blutbrot" literally digs into the past and builds a bridge to the present.

Blood bread

With Verdi’s »Ernani« the music theater collective AGORA creates a spectacular journey through different times, aesthetics and places – with Aachen Cathedral as a special venue.

Ernani

Who owns the city and its stories? What do the cobblestones and underground streams have to tell? Director and performer Schorsch Kamerun stages a »street oratorio« in Aachen's most popular squares, with a community choir of 60 citizens. Outdoors and for free!

Place Publique

Theatervorplatz

Influencer Joy presents herself as a »stay at home girlfriend«. While her boyfriend is at work, she produces content. Her topics: Cooking, cleaning, fitness, self-care, beauty. Now she wants to unlock the next level: Marriage! For the perfect wedding, of course, she needs a father to walk her down the aisle. Unfortunately, he turned his back on the family a long time ago to pursue his lifelong dream: To be a clown. Together with a group of like-minded people, he has retreated to a mysterious house to live solely for art, without any political pressure from outside. Joy seeks him out there to win him over for her wedding - and meets his flatmates: the snooty Severin Le Magnifique, who attended the renowned clown school »Le Coq«, the revolutionary Rine, who fights against inequality with the power of the clown, and the shy ex-literary scholar Gelsomino, who still wants to be baptised a clown. When her father Flip refuses to accompany her to the wedding, Joy concocts an intrigue. She wants to split the group and clear the way for her "perfect wedding". But the clowns have other plans ...

Life is a Clown

This opera by Catalan composer Xavier Montsalvatge tells the anarchic story of the classic fairytale about a cunning cat who first turns a poor miller’s life and later an entire kingdom upside down.

Puss in Boots

If we could all just shut up for five minutes, then we would realise how to deal with this broken world. That’s what the three characters in Leo Meier’s newest play, a light and virtuoso, poetic-absurd farce, think – but they simply can’t keep quiet.

Five minutes of silence

The stage is set for the pater europae, the Charlemagne of all Charlemagnes, the most famous Aachener and mythical ruler! Charlemagne is a unique historical brand. From the pen of the trio Dlé alias Jaques Tabaques, Jaxxon Mehrzweck and Kemo comes a rap spectacle that sheds a completely new light on the legends, anecdotes and theories about the Frankish king and packages them in rich beats and cheeky verses.

House of Karls

Can we live completely free and still remain responsible? »La Bohème« – much more than a touching tale of love and art – tackles this existential question.

Bohemia

How to battle a crisis in your own house? The executive director knows how: a new play by an upcoming author, directed by the hippest artist in the field – and sure local politics will fall in line! While his dramaturge in charge is planning a coup against him, the executive director unleashes an ancient evil force in the theatres basement and the plot takes an unexpected turn…

The portal

The Master Builder« by Ibsen addresses a range of topics, such as patriarchal power structures, artistic genius and emancipation, and shows how they impact individual lives. Author and director Katharina Grosch rewrites the play with a focus on the conflicts between generations.

Master builder Solness

"The cross-disciplinary concept, a feature of Elena Tzavara's new artistic direction, works here too. Enthusiastic, long applause follows."Aachener Zeitung ed by beautiful music, explore mysterious underwater worlds.

The Fisherman and His Wife

One of the great mythical travesties between heaven and hell: Jacques Offenbach used the original myth of Orpheus and Eurydike for his story of dangerous temptations and serious marital problems.

Orpheus in the Underworld

For the first time since 1945, a radical right-wing party has such a noteable number of voters and followers. »Oppenhoff« is dedicated to the fighters of the past and present and helps us understand how to resist in the future, with the unifying power of songs.

Dinçer Güçyeter’s novel presents the voices of three generations of women – told by the son of Fatma, who arrives in Germany in 1965 as the wife of a Turkish guest worker. The poetic language, sociographic accuracy and the lifelike figures make this novel a fascinating material for theatre.

Our Germany Fairytale

Based on the author's letters and literary texts, actor Jonas Dumke takes us on his personal journey to Heinrich von Kleist, with a homage to his language and his life. The war experiences of the young soldier Kleist and his suicide with Henriette Vogel are also included in this solo evening about an eloquent man whose words ultimately got stuck in his throat. "ACH!" was first produced at the HKB Theater in Bern and premiered there on June 23. Since then, it has been further developed and transferred to the stage of the Theater Aachen. In March 24, the solo project was invited by the German Academy of Performing Arts to the Young Actors' Week, where it was awarded the Günther Rühle Prize, the Audience Award and the Student Jury Prize.

»ACH!« – A Kleist Portrait

To mark the anniversary, we are treating ourselves and you to an evening with works by one of the greatest German humorists: Loriot, who first staged his "Dramatic Works" himself in 1985 at the Aachen Theater.

Don't say anything now!

chamber Aachen

We want to be touched by art, don’t we? How about asking the question of the theatre’s potential after 200 years of Theater Aachen? POLLYESTER and team create a sensual and interdisciplinary study – a delicate encounter between human bodies and avatars.

The Non-Visitor. Etudes for a Building

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.

In Maeterlinck’s famous symbolist play »The Blue Bird« we meet the siblings Tyltyl and Mytyl who, accompanied by a fairy, are searching for the blue bird, which is known to bring happiness and prosperity. Their magical journey leads them to the lands of the night, of memories and of happiness.

The Blue Bird

The famous decorations of Schinkel’s »The Magic Flute« were source of inspiration for artist Tim Berresheim, who uses exuberant imagination and digital art to further develop the mystical, twisted worlds.

The director and author duo Stuhler/Koslowski, known for their boulevardesque discursive comedies, go on a literary-archaeological mission with our ensemble and bring the almost forgotten work of a female author from Aachen to the light of day.

Lady Tartuffe

The horror story of the bloodthirsty barber from Stephen Sondheim’s »black operetta« tells of the protest against political despotism, corruption and greed for profit with pointed poignancy.

Sweeney Todd

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

Sister Angelica has lived in the convent for years, secluded and devoted entirely to tending the monastery herb garden. In her heart, she harbors a great longing for her son, whom she once had to leave with her aunt. Years later, her aunt pays her a visit and urges Angelica to renounce her inheritance. Almost incidentally, Angelica learns of her son's tragic death. She reaches for the poison – then, in the distance, she hears angelic voices...

Sister Angelica

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.

Theater Aachen

Mar 6 - May 31, 2026

Our Germany fairytale

Jan 14 - Jun 27, 2026

Frankenstein

Feb 21 - Apr 17, 2026

Oppenhoff. Mohren. Cohn

Dec 6, 2025 - Mar 24, 2026

L'elisir d'amore / The love potion

Nov 14, 2025 - Apr 16, 2026

Mysteryland

Mar 15, 2026

St. John Passion

Mar 12, 2026

The Disobedient

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Theater Aachen