Tartuffe oder Das Schwein der Weisen (Tartuffe or the philosopher's swine)
by PeterLicht after Molièreby PeterLicht after Molière
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«Tartuffe» was the Molière comedy that was banned from being performed immediately after its world premiere in 1664 at the height of the baroque period. The influential Catholic «parti des dévots» saw itself as being attacked in Molière’s characterisation, because this made it clear that behind Tartuffe’s mask of piety and virtue, he is exclusively interested in satisfying his monetary and sexual needs. As a result, the family of the bourgeois Orgon challenge Tartuffe’s influence on the patriarch he has duped and attempt to defend their way of life that apparently counters the established moral code.
The author and musician PeterLicht frees this moral portrait that we now find barely legible from the socio-political reality of French absolutism and sets his sights on the present in his new version «Tartuffe or the Philosopher’s Swine». Here he employs the same characters as the original, whose literary descendants are nevertheless given considerable licence: in secular times one abhors a vacuum and so the «socially interconnected sculpture» hopes for and fears the appearance of Tartuffe, who serves to supply their wishes and as a surface onto which they may project themselves.
«Old texts have to be dusted off. They need to be ground down, word for word. And the plot worn out – and then something will emerge again that was there once before. Maybe something in keeping with Molière. I have great sympathy for this author. But I’m not a historian. Being faithful to his words or plot can’t save him any more.» PeterLicht
With this headlong, precise and opulent work Claudia Bauer was invited to the Berlin Theatertreffen 2019. Her production «The Imaginary Invalid or the Enema of Pure Reason» by PeterLicht can also be seen in repertoire.
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About the author PeterLicht
The work of the German musician and author PeterLicht operates between text and music, pop culture and theatre. He has released numerous albums including «14 Songs» (2001), «Songs of the Stratosphere» (2003), «Songs from the End of Capitalism» (2006), «Melancholy and Society» (2008), «No More Complaints» (2011), «In Praise of Reality» (2014) and «When We’re All Different» (2018). 2006 saw the publication of his first book «We Will Win – the Book of the End of Capitalism». This was followed by «History as I Estimate it at the Beginning of the Third Millennium » (2008, winner of the 3sat Prize and the Audience Award at the Ingeborg Bachmann Competition 2007) and «In Praise of Reality» (2014). In 2009 PeterLicht curated the «Festival of the Invisible Human» at the Münchner Kammerspiele. The following of his plays have been performed: «Clearing Spaces» (world premiere 2009, directors: PeterLicht and S.E, Struck, Münchner Kammerspiele), «History as I Estimate it at the Beginning of the Third Millennium » (world premiere 2009, director: Florentine Klepper, Theater Basel), «The Miser. A Family Portrait after Molière» (world premiere 2010, director: Jan Bosse, Maxim Gorki Theater Berlin), «The Disappearance of States» (world premiere 2010, director: Mareike Mikat, Schauspiel Leipzig), «Everyday Miracles» (world premiere 2012, director: Peter Kastenmüller, Düsseldorfer Schauspielhaus), «The Whoosh of the World» (world premiere 2013, director: SEE!, Schauspiel Köln), «The Misanthrope» (world premiere 2016, director: Claudia Bauer, Theater Basel) and «Tartuffe or the Philosopher’s Swine» (world premiere 2018, director: Claudia Bauer, Theater Basel). «The Imaginary Invalid or the Enema of Pure Reason» was written as a commissioned work for the Residenztheater.
Artistic Direction
