Four people stand backlit on a stage with their backs to the camera, a piano between them.
Das neue Leben
© Jörg Brüggemann / Ostkreuz

Performance rights: © 2016 Philipp Reclam jun. Verlag GmbH, Ditzingen

Production | Theatertreffen 2022

Das neue Leben

where do we go from here

Love, failure, moments that cannot be brought back and new beginnings are at the centre of Christopher Rüping’s production at Schauspielhaus Bochum. Love poems from the late Middle Ages are the show’s starting point and they come up against today’s pop songs.

Artistic Team

Christopher Rüping – Director
Peter BaurSet design
Lene Schwind – ​​​​​​​Costume Design
Jonas Holle – ​​​​​​​Music 
Paul Hankinson – ​​​​​​​Piano arrangements
Bernd Felder – ​​​​​​​Lighting design 
Vasco Boenisch – ​​​​​​​Dramaturgy

With
William Cooper, Viviane De Muynck, Anna Drexler, Damian Rebgetz, Anne Rietmeijer

Love, failure, moments that cannot be brought back and new beginnings are at the centre of Christopher Rüping’s production. Love poems from the late Middle Ages are the show’s starting point and they come up against today’s pop songs.

What if you love someone with all of your heart but your love remains unrequited? In his collection of poems and sonnets “Vita Nova (The New Life)”, the poet Dante tells us about his feelings for Beatrice. He never confessed his love to her; her early death has left a painful void in him. How do we deal with the things we did not do? This question is the point of departure from which director Christopher Rüping and his wonderful cast approach these more than 700-year-old texts, continue them and live through them together. The result is a venue for encounters of delicate beauty and great force.