Johanna

*** Note: the show on 11 November won't be surtitled in English. ***

Witch or saint, these are the irreconcilable judgements of Joan of Arc lore. At only 17 years of age, Joan sets out to  a world that was already thought lost. Her journey ends at the stake, hundreds of years later she is canonised again. Since then, her myth has been politically charged: as an icon of courageous idealism, as an example of fatal fanaticism or as a heroine who brings salvation. Joan is many things. Time and again, she serves as an image for all those young women who seem to single-handedly challenge the status quo, be it that of patriarchy, exploitative labour relations or climate policy.

In Schiller's "romantic tragedy", Johanna leads the French army against England through her firm faith - and by force - ultimately to victory. While in Schiller's work Johanna legitimises her actions with God, Leonie Böhm sees behind the myth of Johanna a human being who constantly transforms herself between powerlessness and omnipotence, doubt and wonder, her own visions and other people's projections, always in search of pose and in the endless hope of change.

Together with the ensemble, Leonie Böhm sets out in Johanna on a search for new beliefs that help us break through old systems and grow beyond ourselves and our previous certainties.