The Righteous

1905, Moscow: Grand Duke Sergei is on his way to the Bolshoi Theater in his carriage. Five revolutionaries want to seize the opportunity to carry out an assassination attempt on the despot. But the attempt fails: the assassin, Kalyayev, hesitates when he sees that there are children in the carriage as well, and decides to spare them. Back at their hideout, heated discussions erupt among the anarchists about the struggle against a repressive system and the path to a just world. What should be done when the price of freedom affects the innocent? How far may individuals go to ensure the welfare of society? And can there even be such a thing as “just” violence? The struggle for a just life and the boundaries between individual action and idealistic striving unfold, thereby drawing a relevant analogy to current events.

The French writer, philosopher, and Nobel Prize laureate in Literature, Albert Camus, drew inspiration for this drama from the historical assassination of Grand Duke Sergei Romanov. He was murdered in 1905 by a group of Social Revolutionaries. Premiered in 1949, the drama explores the contradictions between political convictions and the personal doubts that arise when violence is used. Following her successful production of William Shakespeare’s *Twelfth Night*, the young, up-and-coming director Anne Mulleners now brings this human quest for justice to the Kammerspiele.