Woyzeck

«Woyzeck' is about delusion and obsessions, about children and about murder – and all of these things touch us. The play is wild and hot and exciting and inspires our imagination. It makes us scared for the characters and consider our own lives. What else can you ask for in a play?» Tom Waits

Georg Büchner was only 23 years old when he began to write his play Woyzeck, which was visionary for his times and full of powerful imagery. This unfinished fragment is one of the most famous texts in German literature.  

Woyzeck, a humble soldier, serves as a barber to the Captain. His wages are not enough to provide for his beloved Marie and their child, so he hires himself out as a medical test object. The effects of the experiments weaken Woyzeck, who is already marked by a life of hardship, to such an extent that he gradually loses himself in a world of delusions that finally devours him.

«Every man is an abyss, one feels dizzy when one looks down». These lines, allotted to Woyzeck by the author, are a splendid description of his own view of mankind and society. And so, despite all his honest endeavours to be a good person, Woyzeck finally reels towards the abyss, caught in a society that offers him no purchase in life.

Ersan Mondtag productions have been presented internationally, received several awards and have been invited to various festivals, including Berliner Theatertreffen. Mondtag follows a performative and interdisciplinary approach that addresses mechanism of our psyche and shows victims and perpetrators of language and rationality.