The Witches of Bernau

From the series "Berliner Geschichten"

THE WITCHES OF BERNAU
On enemy images, the failure of justice, and a crime against humanity

With: Alina Gause (acting, singing), Carl Martin Spengler (acting, singing) and Matthias Behrsing (piano)
Direction: Alina Gause
Musical direction: Matthias Behrsing
Text: Ildiko Bognar
Set design: Joshua Tewes-McCoy
Costume design: Tatjana Hajdukova
Directorial assistant: Milena Mielke

WORLD PREMIERE as part of the festival week HEIMAT_KUNST under the motto "DIE KRAFT DER FRAUEN":
Saturday, 13 June 2026, 7:30 pm, THEATER IM PALAIS Berlin
Further performances: Sunday, 21 June 2026, 4:00 pm

Duration: approx. 1 hr 45 min. (incl. interval after 45 min.)

In keeping with our annual theme "The Power of Women", this new scenic-musical in-house production turns to a dark chapter of history: the witch trials.

From 1617, a wave of persecution swept through Bernau near Berlin, during which many innocent people - above all women - were accused of witchcraft. One of them was Dorothea Meermann, a 70-year-old resident of Bernau. Arrested for sorcery in the third generation of her family, she was repeatedly tortured over more than two years. Yet she defied the power structures of the early modern period and maintained until her death that she was no witch.

Drawing on thorough historical research and real-life fates, the production brings to life an era that only seems unrelated to our own time at first glance. Alina Gause and Carl Martin Spengler move between acting and narrating as they tell a story in which narratives outweigh facts and those in power are always right.