the brocken jug

National Thater Mannheim – Opening 27.09.2025 

Ten electroacoustic compositions form the sonic framework of this production by Anna Elisabeth Frick and structure Kleist’s text. In close connection with the choreography by Ted Stoffer, the music unfolds a field of tension between expansive, floating soundscapes and dynamic, rhythmic structures. The sound design oscillates between trance-like moments of rapturous elevation and pulsating sonic masses that make authoritarian power and the coldness of repressive systems audible.
This gives rise to musical-performative sequences in which the text pauses, while sound and movement take over the space.
Striking is the contrast between Kleist’s historically shaped language and the electronic music: while the complex speech patterns anchor the characters in their time, the contemporary sonic aesthetic breaks open this world and confronts it with a modern experience of power, control, and seduction.
In this friction, the unique musicality of Kleist’s language also comes to the fore—its rhythms and tonal colors are reinterpreted through the interplay with electronics. In this way, a resonant space opens up that makes the contradictions and abysses of the drama audible, charging the theatrical space with an intensity that is both seductive and unsettling.

Hannes Strobl: composition, electronics, electric bass, electric double bass
David Moss: voice on „Cloning“