Staatsschauspiel Dresden: At least the theater can still save the world

From the SPD resign and pay the membership fee Climate dishes and donate to aid organizations: He made this decision, admits a comrade at the premiere party. Was Volker Lösch’s “Candide” production at the Dresden Schauspielhaus intended to have an immediate effect?

Because in his always inevitable final sermon, the director finds the optimism that the simple Candide searches in vain for in the brutal world into which he is thrown against his will: not to expect the world to be saved from above, but to “just do it” yourself. This also means supporting a whole list of specifically mentioned initiatives, clubs and houses.

The persistence with which the 62-year-old Lösch has passionately denounced the world’s evils for 30 years can only be admired. In the Dresden premiere audience, a group of young spectators also applauded noticeably intensely. But Lösch’s expression of empathy regularly falls short of missionary and agitation.

The state theater and the director aptly take up a Voltaire from 1759, which in turn refers to the universal genius Leibniz and his theodicy. So the question of the quality and justice of an imagined God in the face of the wretchedness of the world. In “Candide or optimism” The naive “hero” has this experience when he is expelled from his well-protected aristocratic paradise.

Also the idea of ​​lyricist Soeren Voima, this Candide in the year of change in 1990, was usually the first to come along Karl May There is still humor in having the associated Radebeul in Saxony set off, although not always logic. The Ossis, who were almost militantly calling for accession to the West German paradise, also wallowed in naive optimism. In 1990, the collapse of the Eastern Bloc appeared to be a final victory for democracy and a market economy. Francis Fukuyama advanced the thesis of the “end of history”.

Crumbled foundation

But the prologue jumps straight into the depressing present. There is a lack of “collective optimism” and the realization that “our common foundation is crumbling.” The stage design, once again designed by Gary Gayler, demonstrates this clearly. A multi-part boulder, secured with stairs and railings in accordance with TÜV regulations, gradually loses more and more of its elements and thus the basis for action.

The Typical citizens’ choir has shrunk to the nine actors. Alternating with long monologues, declamations, reports from individuals, to which all eight others listen reverently. As if this constant word dictation should be justified in advance, the actors encourage themselves and their guests right from the start with their stated “belief in the power of theater”.

The subsequent hunt through different parts of the world must indeed be shocking. Climate consequences, wars, despotism in dictatorships, half of humanity on the run, dramatic sea rescues of migrants, Afghanistan, the perversions of American brutal capitalism, a “boss” with a red baseball cap. But we’ve actually known that for a long time. What else scares us?

The resources that the theater offers are wasted simply because of the almost Protestant emphasis on words. Forced throughout, presented imperatively. “Lecture Performance” would be a better fit for this production. Not much happens sensually. Candide’s personal search for a path, which could also be followed by irritated viewers, is not depicted in a comprehensible manner. This is made even more difficult by the fact that he is constantly being played by others and can only be recognized by a bobbed wig.

Three participating activists show themselves to be remarkably fit in terms of craftsmanship and oral skills. They cannot avoid the impression that they have seen an inconclusive deletion this time.