Faith Love Hope: Horváth's Bitter Dance of Death in Bamberg
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A bitter-comic dance of death about humanity and social coldness
Ödön von Horváth's Faith Love Hope. A Little Dance of Death will take place on October 28, 2026 at the St. Gangolf parish community center in Bamberg. The focus is on Elisabeth, a young woman without a solid place in society, who unwaveringly struggles for self-determination, love, and a dignified life.
When bureaucracy decides over humanity
Every step forward leads Elisabeth deeper into a web of offices, regulations, prejudices, and social coldness. White lies become a survival skill, seemingly harmless rules develop relentless power. Horváth tells the story of an individual who is crushed by a society in which humanity retreats behind paragraphs and indifference.
Horváth's precise language between comedy and terror
The play, created in 1932 together with Lukas Kristl, carries the subtitle of a little dance of death and combines social critique with bitter humor. Suhrkamp Verlag describes the drama as a confrontation with the bureaucratic-irresponsible application of small paragraphs and the gigantic struggle between the individual and society. The dialogues expose social roles, while the dramaturgy follows Elisabeth's life path with terrifying consistency.
A staging with a visible theatrical handwriting
The direction by Heidi Lehnert meets a set design by Linda Hofmann, costumes by Barbara Rose-Andres, music by Guido Apel, and lighting design by Laurin Drechsel. Together, they create a theatrical atmosphere in which social constriction, personal vulnerability, and the absurdity of everyday life become immediately tangible. The acting of Benjamin Bochmann, Ursula Gumbsch, Gerald Leiß, Laura Mann, and Patrick L. Schmitz carries the character world between official coldness, longing, and grotesque everyday reality.
A matter of frightening relevance
Horváth’s social analysis stretches far beyond its time of origin. Existential need, exclusion, institutional hardness, and the search for a self-determined life form the resonance space of this production. The stage experience connects historical theatrical placement with an immediate audience reaction: Elisabeth’s struggle does not remain on stage but raises questions about the present.
Conclusion: A theater evening that resonates
Faith Love Hope. A Little Dance of Death promises an intense play between bitter comedy, political awareness, and human vulnerability. Those who appreciate Horváth's precise language, strong characters, and the sensual power of a live performance will find at the St. Gangolf parish community center an evening of theater that lingers long after the final applause.
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- Website: https://www.tig-bamberg.de/oktober-26.html
