Goethe’s “Werther,” written in 1774, has continued to be an inspiration for artists in different genres. The RG Munich attends a brand new adaptation for the stage at the Residenztheater.

„The Sorrows of Young Werther“ was a literary sensation across Europe in 1774. Its 25-year-old author Johann Wolfgang von Goethe became a star overnight. This novel influenced men’s fashion and led to a flurry of suidices among hyper-romantic young men. Goethe had originally planned to write the story of Werther’s unhappy love for Lotte as a stage play, but ultimately decided on the form of the epistolary novel. In her adaptation, the director Elsa-Sophie Jach has seized on the idea Goethe abandoned and transfers Goethe’s love-sick alter ego to the stage. „WERTHER. A Theatrical Folly“ supplements Goethe’s astonishingly modern rush of emotion with texts by one of his contemporaries: Karoline von Günderrode (who committed suicide for love). The radical, emancipatory spirit of her eccentric, melancholy and highly poetic verse, which brought her the soubriquet „the Romantic Sappho“ meets the emotional ardour of Goethe’s tragic anti-hero.

Solo performance by Johannes Nussbaum, with music accompaniment by Bettina Maier, synthesizer und bass clarinet, and Sarah Mettenleiter, synthesizer and piano.

Contact: fk-muenchen@daad-alumni.de