Spring Awakening

Frühlings Erwachen [The Awakening of Spring] explores the taboo of juvenile sexuality and its frequently fatal consequences, even in our time. Published in 1891, Frank Wedekind’s Children’s Tragedy only received its premiere in 1906 and was then immediately prohibited due to its ostensible pornographic content. Despite these obstacles, the work achieved an unprecedented success across German-speaking theatres and has lost none of its relevance in our age. The librettist Martin G. Berger and I have transformed Wedekind’s drama into an eponymous singspiel set in a school in the suburbs of Hamburg in 2024. We encounter Wendla, Melchior, Moritz and Ilse, juveniles of today, with their impetuosity in love and experience their yearnings, doubts, insecurities and anxieties, but also their strengths and visions. Ludger Vollmer