Solaris

About

The Badisches Staatstheater Karlsruhe production of Solaris is a stage adaptation of Stanisław Lem’s 1961 science‑fiction classic. Directed by Antonina Brühl in her Staatstheater Karlsruhe debut, the piece premieres on the intimate Insel stage, a venue used for Schauspiel (drama). The story follows psychologist Kris Kelvin, who arrives at a space station orbiting the planet Solaris to discover the director has died and the remaining scientists are haunted by physical visitations—embodied doubles of people from their pasts. Kelvin is confronted by the return of his former wife Harey, whose death still burdens him. The production engages Lem’s themes of guilt, identity, memory, and the ethical challenge of encountering the truly Other, using the Insel’s close‑up configuration to support a reflective, contemporary theatrical approach.