Berliner Ensemble: De Profundis By Oscar Wilde
(This is a past event and is no longer running)
Directed by Oliver Reese & Performed by Jens Harzer
“When one has weighed the sun in the balance, and measured the steps of the moon, and mapped out the seven heavens star by star, there still remains oneself.” – Oscar Wilde
From the Berliner Ensemble, award-winning German actor Jens Harzer performs Oscar Wilde’s De Profundis. Directed by Berliner Ensemble Artistic Director Oliver Reese, this masterful performance captures Wilde’s impassioned reflection on his life and society.
“A sensational, unforgettable solo performance.” (Welt)
In 1895, Oscar Wilde was sentenced to two years in prison – for being provocative; for loving men, for not hiding his true self and for defying convention. His trial was meant to be a warning to others – against the crime of homosexuality and his irrepressible drive for freedom and recognition. While imprisoned, he wrote a long, impassioned letter to his estranged young lover, Lord Alfred Douglas. Later published as De Profundis, Wilde’s letter describes the unbearable pains and blissful pleasures of his love, as well as his views on art, Christianity, and incarceration, and a society that doesn’t tolerate what it doesn’t understand.
De Profundis is the last outcry of a broken but untamed spirit. Bankrupt and shunned by society, Wilde writes with literary mastery about contempt and loneliness, about pride and pain. What remains when everything that a person once was is taken away from them?
In German with English surtitles.
Click here to download the digital programme.
Text: Oscar Wilde
Direction: Oliver Reese
Performer: Jens Harzer
Stage Design: Hansjörg Hartung
Costume Design: Elina Schnizler
Music: Jörg Gollasch
Lighting Design: Steffen Heinke
Dramaturgy: Johannes Nölting
German Translation: Mirko Bonné
Please note, latecomers will not be admitted until 30 minutes into the performance and there is no further readmittance after that point.
Post-show Talk
We will be hosting a post-show talk with Oliver Reese and Jens Harzer after the evening performance on Sat 03 Oct. The talk will be free for ticket holders.
