In front of a sold out crowd in December 2011, the Sophiensaele celebrated its reopening after a partial renovation of the building with a performance of Der Kirschgarten. Once more, Der Kirschgarten takes to the stage– a very precisely composed chain of billowing, distinctive moments - outrageous, bizarre and surprising – just like life itself. Chekhov’s story of the highly indebted landowner Ranevskaya, whose only way out of debt is to chop down her beloved cherry orchard (but refuses to thus losing everything), provides an almost bodily encapsulation of the times as it elapses. As Jean Louis Barrault recalls: “first act – the cherry orchard might have to be sold, second act – the cherry orchard will be sold, third act – the cherry orchard is sold, fourth act – the cherry orchard has been sold, the rest – is life.” Chekhov never elucidates nor evaluates, he determines things and thus allows us to behold time, death, love and money.

DIRECTION Thorsten Lensing, Jan Hein WITH Niels Bormann, Benjamin Eggers, Anna Grisebach, Lisa Hrdina, Maria Hofstätter, Valentin Jeker, Willi Kellers, Joachim Król, Peter Kurth, Ursina Lardi, Horst Mendroch, Lars Rudolph, Devid Striesow, Rik van Uffelen COSTUMES Anette Guther, Christel Rehm MusiC Willi Kellers COMPANY MANAGEMENT Eva-Karen Tittmann TechniCS Andreas Harder ASSISTANCE DIRECTION Benjamin Eggers, Pia Bruer ASSISTANCE COSTUMES Miriam Zacheiss

Produced by Theater T1 in cooperation with Kampnagel Hamburg, Theater im Pumpenhaus Münster, Grand Théâtre Luxembourg, TAK Theater Liechtenstein, Hellerau -Europäisches Zentrum der Künste Dresden and SOPHIENSÆLE. Funded by the Hauptstadtkulturfonds and the Kulturamt der Stadt Münster. The revival is made possibly by the friendly support of Hauptstadtkulturfonds. Special thanks to our media partners rbb Kulturradio and Dussmann Das KulturKaufhaus.

photo © David Baltzer