Thomas Hürlimann

Das Einsiedler Welttheater
Nach Das große Welttheater von Calderón de la Barca
28 D, 23 H, Fabelwesen, Chor, Verwandlungsdek
UA: 23.06.2000 · Einsiedeln · Directed by: Volker Hesse
Based on The Great Theatre of the World by Calderón de la Barca

The will of man is free. “World” gives him the props of his position and the game starts. Each player enters the stage through the same door, the cradle, and leaves it, after playing his part, through a second door, the grave. The king turns out to be proud, the rich to be hard-hearted, the beauty to be vain, the peasant to be lazy. Only the beggar and the wisdom play their part to honour God. Then, the “world” takes every player’s borrowed props away and opens their eyes to make them see if they fulfilled or misplayed their part.
Hürlimann turns this into a kind of deeply Swiss persiflage with a good deal of humour and thoughtful depth.
If the author agrees, the regional dialect can be rewritten to fit with different regions.
Translated into: English