LIVE VR production by RAUM+ZEIT (Althoff/Kittstein/Mikeska)
On the occasion of Thomas Mann’s 150th birthday in 2025, the hybrid VR production by RAUM+ZEIT explores his life and work. Taking inspiration from his magnum opus "Doctor Faustus," written in Californian exile during World War II, RAUM+ZEIT tells the story of a forbidden love as a Faustian pact. The setting is Mann reading aloud, in the living room of his villa on San Remo Drive in Los Angeles, the chapter in which the protagonist’s beloved foster son dies a cruel death—while, in one corner, his favorite grandson Frido, who closely resembles the dead child, is playing. RAUM+ZEIT weaves together novel and biography, virtual and live scenes, into a dreamlike interplay of reality and fiction, art and life, desire and guilt.
With Bettina Hoppe, Jannik Mühlenweg, Martin Rentzsch
Concept and idea: Alexandra Althoff, Lothar Kittstein, Bernhard Mikeska
Text: Lothar Kittstein
Director: Bernhard Mikeska
Dramaturgy: Alexandra Althoff
Stage: Steffi Wurster
Costumes: Irene Ip
Sound design: Knut Jensen
VR video: RAUM+ZEIT, Heimspiel GmbH
