The war is over! Victorious and full of the joys of life, Don Pedro, Prince of Aragon, and his soldiers arrive at the court of Leonato in beautiful Messina. But soon after receiving a warm welcome, the newcomers throw the relationships at court into disarray. Claudio immediately loses his heart to Hero, the daughter of his host, while Benedikt is abruptly insulted by Beatrice, leading to numerous verbal altercations between the pair. Here the Shakespearean course of events begins: Leonato and Pedro devise a ruse to bring about Hero’s betrothal at a masked ball. And while they’re at it, they also want to put Cupid’s arrows to a severe test: Beatrice has sworn off men in favour of an independent life free of convention. She even declares before Benedikt that she will never marry. Now, Leonato and Pedro want to see this perpetually bickering duo united in love. However, they don’t factor Don John into their plans. Pedro’s humiliated brother takes advantage of the confusing situation to create considerable conflict for his own amusement and constructs his own ruse – he tricks his servant Borachio into staging a fake scenario that is intended to cast doubt over Hero’s faithfulness to Claudio.

Director Anne Mulleners has already caused a stir in Innsbruck and Ingolstadt with her fresh take on William Shakespeare. In her first production for Theater Oberhausen, she introduces herself with a musical staging of this tangle of confusion.

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Production Staff

Director: Anne Mulleners
Stage and Costume Design: Matthias Dielacher, Chani Lehmann
Music: Aki Traar
Dramaturg: Jascha Fendel

Bilder

Trailer

Pressestimme

„Die junge Regisseurin Anne Mulleners hinterfragt die stereotypen Geschlechterrollen bei Shakespeare aus heutiger Perspektive und führt vor, dass das alles so nicht mehr funktionieren kann und soll. Ehe gut, alles gut? Von wegen. (…) Das Premierenpublikum applaudierte begeistert.“ Klaus Stübler, Ruhr Nachrichten