CAMERA OBSCURA :: LENZ

Lenz finds himself in a desperate situation. He has left his home town, its repulsive image still etched in his mind. Heartache is his constant companion, beneath which lies a wellspring of painful memories. His father, a religious fanatic, has severed all ties to him. The young poet calls himself a "beggar", one who has suffered unemployment, hunger and hardship. Writing is his only weapon against the cruelty of society. But suddenly he finds a place of refuge − Weimar. This is where his close friend Goethe lives, and now Lenz hopes to find recognition and safety there as well.

Initially his new life in Weimar feels "half like a pleasant dream". Yet while Goethe influence in Weimar steadily grows, Lenz's role in one of the most cultivated societies in Europe is reduced to that of the unconventional jokester. Only months after arriving, he is unexpectedly expelled from the duchy. Goethe has abandoned him. Lenz sees himself "cast out of heaven like a vagabond, rebel" – and doesn't realize how closely this vision resembles his own future, bereft of home and country.

Following the widely acclaimed piece "GOETHE :: ON DISAPPEARING" which premiered at the Weimar Kunstfest in 2016, the artist trio RAUM+ZEIT has now developed a new installation highlighting the brilliant, but tragic antipode of Weimar's illustrious poet laureate. A room in the legendary Hotel Elephant serves as the setting for this intimate, multimedial drama. Wearing earphones, the viewer sets out alone on a path that invites reflection on what it means to belong and to be an outcast.
 

A production by the Verein Raum und Zeit e. V., DNT and Kunstfest Weimar in cooperation with the Theaterhaus Jena.

With the kind support of the Hotel Elephant, a Luxury Collection Hotel, Weimar and gpt audio GmbH, Massen.

Funded by the Doppelpass Fund of the German Federal Cultural Foundation

Stage direction: Bernhard Mikeska
Text: Lothar Kittstein
Dramaturgy: Alexandra Althoff
Set and costume design: Hannah Petersen
Sound design: Julia Krause
Video design: Nicolai Hildebrandt

Viewers are kindly asked to wear clothing and shoes appropriate to the weather conditions.