A Transition in Düsseldorf: Elfriede Jelinek's Play as Compelling Language Art
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A Transition: Elfriede Jelinek's Language-critical World Inquiry in Düsseldorf
On November 15, 2026, the Düsseldorf Schauspielhaus will present Elfriede Jelinek's play A Transition. The production by Jossi Wieler combines linguistic artistry, historical reflection, and dark humor into a theater evening about transformation, violence, and the fragile boundary between humanity and monstrosity.
A New Dramaturgy of the Human
Jelinek's text questions human nature and the forces that transform it into other forms. Animals become humans, humans become beasts, spirits and revenants gain new agency. Between myth, political present, and German culture of remembrance, a polyphonic narrative structure unfolds that puts familiar certainties under tension.
Language as a Seismograph of History
A Transition was created for the 80th anniversary of the end of World War II. Jelinek examines transitions from dictatorship to democracy, from democracy to dictatorship, from war to peace, and from peace to war. Her language art reveals historical deposits and makes visible how closely political terms, collective memory, and human behavior remain interconnected.
Jossi Wieler Directs Elfriede Jelinek
Jossi Wieler is among the prominent directors of the Jelinek reception. In Düsseldorf, he collaborates again with set and costume designer Anna Viebrock. The cast includes Katja Bürkle, Dominik Dos-Reis, Stefan Hunstein, and Ole Lagerpusch. Music by Friederike Bernhardt, lighting by Christian Aufderstroth, and dramaturgy by Victor Schlothauer enrich the literary theater event.
Jelinek in Context: Poems by Paul Celan
The performance on November 15 will be complemented by a reading afterward. Ensemble member Stefan Hunstein will read poems by Paul Celan, thus connecting Jelinek's historically charged text to the lyrical culture of memory in German literature. The evening expands the reading atmosphere into a concentrated author encounter with the linguistic repercussions of the 20th century.
A Theater Evening Between Present and Memory
The reading and performance promise no comfortable interpretation scheme, but an intense literary experience. Jelinek's precise, associative language meets a direction that makes political history readable as a present experience. Anyone interested in contemporary theater, language criticism, and the cultural significance of literary memory will experience a night of high literary quality at the Kleine Haus.
Conclusion
A Transition leads directly into the contradictory movements of our time: transformation and hardening, memory and repression, war and longing for peace. The performance at the Düsseldorf Schauspielhaus combines acting, linguistic artistry, and a subsequent Celan reading into an extraordinary theater evening. Literature and theater enthusiasts will experience this production most vividly live at the Kleine Haus.
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- Publisher: https://www.rowohlt-theaterverlag.de/theaterstueck/ein-uebertritt-8885
