Intoxication of freedom

Chawwerusch Theater

500 years of the Peasants' War

by Jean-Michel Räber, for the 2025 Summer of Culture "Forever Young?"

Freedom! Citizens, peasants and the downtrodden march through the country under this banner. They finally march against their oppressors, the nobility and the church. In 1525, a different world seemed within reach. From Alsace to Swabia, Franconia and Thuringia, they united to demand a reduction in taxes and an improvement in their rights in their 12 articles. The "Nußdorfer Haufen" formed in the Palatinate. Castles and monasteries were besieged, victories were won, hope and the idea of freedom grew. The great reformer Martin Luther turned his back on them and in the end the heroes fell.

In the 500th anniversary year of the Peasants' Wars, the Chawwerusch Theater's new open-air play explores what this first great German popular uprising still means today. It poses the question of when revolution is justified. And what must come together for the call for freedom and rights to become unmistakable. How can a spark burn out powerlessly on one day and ignite a fire of change on another?

Among other things, it tells the story of a woman from Alsace. Expelled from her homeland, she ends up in the Palatinate. At the Kerwe in Nußdorf, she witnesses the founding of the Nußdorfer Haufen and soon takes on an increasingly important role within the insurgents. She develops into a charismatic leader. Her story extends beyond the destruction of the Nußdorfer Haufens to the last battle of the Palatinate Peasants' War in Pfeddersheim.

A play about the dream of change - and the price that revolutions demand.

Premiere on 07.06.2025 in the theater hall in Herxheim

Performers: Danilo Fioriti, Yaroslava Gorobey, Alexander Müßig, Stephan Wriecz
Script: Jean-Michel Räber based on improvisations by the ensemble
Director: Susanne Schmelcher
Set and costume design: Sarah Sauerborn
Composition: Nina Wurman
Assistant director: Martha Eichhorn

Supported by the Kultursommer Rheinland-Pfalz and the Landeszentrale Politische Bildung Rheinland-Pfalz