Based on a novel by Friedrich Nietzsche
directed by Sebastian Hartmann
SCHIFFBAU HALLE
Premiere: 3 May 2025
«Man is something that is to be surpassed. What have we done to surpass man?»
Friedrich Nietzsche (1844 - 1900) is an exception in the history of philosophy. With THUS SPOKE ZARATHUSTRA, the philosopher of transgression – "I am not a human being, I am dynamite" – left behind a guide to life against all doctrine. Highly complex yet accessible, it is an equally poetic and philosophical work which removes the ground from any interpretation claiming to have penetrated it completely. Indeed, it fundamentally questions the possibility of a correct interpretation. Zarathustra is a wise man who does not erect an intellectual edifice with his ideas. Rather he plants explosives to liberate his audience or to leave them with the void.
Following his musical theater dissensions with Nietzsche's philosophical forerunner Max Stirner and his educator Arthur Schopenhauer, director Sebastian Hartmann transforms what is perhaps Nietzsche's most famous work into an intoxicating and explosive Gesamtkunstwerk for the first time in Zurich.
THUS SPOKE ZARATHUSTRA is also part of the ZURICH ART WEEKEND 2025 programme
Trigger warning: This production contains explicit scenes of nudity and depictions of sexual assault and sexual violence. This production addresses mental illness.
Sensory warning: Loud music, loud noises (earplugs will be handed out at the entrance), bright lights and fog. Acrylic colours are used on the stage.