/ PUPPET CONSTRUCTION, PUPPET PERFORMANCE – ROLE: DON JUAN /
DIRECTORS: Achim Freyer
TEXT: Moliére
Puppenspiel mit Léa Duchmann.
PREMIERE: 2021, Staatstheater Stuttgart
A contemporary theatrical interpretation of the Don Juan myth, renegotiating desire, power, and gender roles through a physically and visually heightened constellation of figures.
“With the ambition of a great conqueror, Don Juan rushes from victory to victory in order to satisfy his boundless desire. He has murdered the Commander who tried to protect his daughter, abducted Donna Elvira from a convent, married her, and abandoned her. The whole pleasure of love lies in variation—a marriage is for him like a sip of water.
Fascinated and concerned, Sganarelle, Don Juan’s servant, accompanies his master’s erotic adventures. Don Juan defies all conventions and believes neither in heaven nor hell. He fears neither the revenge of Donna Elvira’s brothers, who pursue him, nor the curse of his father, who condemns his immoral way of life. In the cemetery, he discovers the grave and statue of the Commander he killed and invites it to dine with him. When the stone guest actually appears for dinner, Don Juan’s final challenge becomes a divine judgment.”
Molière became familiar with the Don Juan material through the Commedia dell’arte. From the noble libertine of the Italian sources, he created a dazzling free spirit in whom the ideological struggles of a society in transition are reflected. Molière’s Don Juan is a restless seducer in search of the next thrill and a cold rationalist who questions social order with intellectual pleasure.
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