When does the performance start?

The performance starts on 15.05.2026 at 19:30.

How long does the evening last?

The duration is approximately 90 minutes. A break is not indicated.

Where does the guest performance take place?

At Theater Duisburg – Great House, Opernplatz, 47051 Duisburg.

How much does a ticket cost?

The prices are stated to range between 12 and 31 Euro. The starting price is 12 Euro.

Are there official channels of the author?

Yes, the official website of Rhea Leman is available. An official Instagram or Facebook profile could not be verified.

What is the play about Arendt – Thinking in Dark Times?

The focus is on Hannah Arendt in 1975 in Copenhagen, shortly before the award of the Sonning Prize, as she reflects on her life, her escape, and her political experiences.

Rhea Leman's Arendt evening brings Hannah Arendt to Duisburg with intellectual force

Name: Arendt – Thinking in Dark Times
Start: 2026-05-15T21:30:00+02:00
End: 2026-05-15T23:00:00+02:00
Location: Theater Duisburg – Großes Haus

An evening about Hannah Arendt, thinking, and the fragility of time

Rhea Leman's play Arendt – Thinking in Dark Times plunges into a fabric of memory, judgment, and political awareness. In the Theater Duisburg, the audience encounters one of the most significant thinkers of the 20th century in a production that combines biographical tension with linguistic precision, treating the theater as a serious place for contemplation.

Hannah Arendt between Copenhagen and History

The play begins in 1975 in a hotel room in Copenhagen, shortly before the Sonning Prize is awarded. From this concentrated moment, Rhea Leman unfolds a psychogram that transforms Arendt's life, her escape, her experiences in exile, and her confrontation with Adolf Eichmann into a theatrical movement. The reading atmosphere of an intimate author encounter is created not only through proximity but also through intellectual sharpness and dramatic condensation.

Language art instead of mere illustration

Rhea Leman employs a dramaturgy that does not display political history but transforms it into inner tension. The play is not a museum-style portrait but a lively engagement with thinking as an action. Its literary quality lies precisely in this: it combines historical consciousness with clear, concentrated language and opens a space where theater, genre, and cultural discourse intersect.

A guest performance with weight

As a guest performance of the Thalia Theater Hamburg, the production brings artistic authority and current relevance to Duisburg. The staging focuses on Arendt's questions of responsibility, truth, and political judgment – themes that today insistently demand attention on stage. The audience experiences not merely a retelling but a literary experience with a contemporary reference.

The venue: Great House, large audience

The Theater Duisburg, with its Great House, provides the appropriate setting for an evening that demands intellectual concentration and theatrical presence. Centrally located at Opernplatz, the house is one of the most prominent stages in the city and accommodates up to 1,117 spectators in the Great Hall. The architecture, location, and theater tradition lend the evening a special cultural resonant space.

Conclusion: A theater evening for all who love literature as a space for thought

Arendt – Thinking in Dark Times promises an evening full of historical depth, linguistic accuracy, and current stimuli for thought. Those who wish to not only know about Hannah Arendt but view her anew will find here a compelling access through theater. This guest performance is meant to be experienced live.