The Sandman - E.T.A. Hoffmann

A theatre project for people aged 13 and up

It is a drama of a peculiar kind, when reality becomes unreal and the unreal becomes real.

A sinister Sandman roams about us, casting sand in our eyes to force us into sleep filled with terrible dreams. Is it merely a dream, or is it truly happening? For the young student Nathanael, reality blurs before his eyes. He experiences the incredible: dark figures haunt him, he burns with love for a strange apparition, an artificial being full of beauty and emptiness - Olimpia.

Will the young student escape from these artificial worlds back into the clarity of reality? Or will he remain entangled in the magical image-worlds of madness?

This staging of the deeply romantic tale from 1816 poses questions that concern us all today. How do we contend with the seductive images of artificial intelligence, what happens to us when we lose ourselves in simulated worlds and lose sight of the truths of reality?

The theatre project is a collaboration between Kreuzgangspiele and the Free Acting School in Hamburg.