Das Prinzip Hoffnung – Badische State Theater Karlsruhe, Karlsruhe

About this event

Das Prinzip Hoffnung is a commission by Badisches Staatstheater Karlsruhe that brings Ernst Bloch’s magnum opus The Principle of Hope to the stage as music theatre. Director Stephan Kimmig and the multi–Grammy-nominated post-genre composer PC Nackt transform Bloch’s poetic philosophy into a musical stage work. The roughly 1,600-page text was written between 1938 and 1947 while Bloch lived in exile in the United States after fleeing Nazi Germany. Since its publication in the 1950s, the “principle of hope” has become a catchphrase, though it is often misunderstood. For Bloch it is not passive optimism but a reflective form of hope that, despite daily shortcomings, does not give up and counters prevailing fear with a concrete utopia. To achieve this, we must relearn how to marvel, to play, and to dream, and above all become “in love with success.” Music theatre—Bloch’s favorite discipline—creates a space where the principle of hope can be put into practice.