Freedom! Under this banner, citizens, peasants, and the oppressed march through the land. They finally march against their oppressors, against nobility and the church. In 1525, a different world seems within reach. Freedom – an idea, a flying spark, was in the world. The play follows this spark to the present day and at the same time gives a face to the forgotten fighters of that time.

For example, there’s the farmer Jakob, who reads about the peasant unrest in the Palatinate in a pamphlet. Their goals of freedom captivate him. Overnight in Nußdorf, a strong community transformed into a convinced movement and a powerful group. Jakob wants to join them and fight with the Nußdorf group. But is violence the only option?

Instead, the strategic fellow fighter Else advises: “Justice instead of blood!” – the peasants should go to court and invoke the law, because they are entitled to much more than the authorities grant them…

In the 500th year after the outbreak of the Peasants’ Wars, the Chawwerusch Theater explores in its new open-air play what this first great German popular uprising still means today. It asks when revolution is justified. And what needs to come together for the call for freedom and rights to become undeniable. How can a spark fizzle out powerlessly one day and ignite a fire of change on another?

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

Funded by the State Center for Political Education Rhineland-Palatinate.