Overview
- The festival opened with the premiere of Die Hunnenkönigin, a deutsch–English production staged by London company Les Enfants Terribles.
- The premiere, held Friday, drew roughly 1,400 spectators and ended with sustained applause.
- The three-hour, genre-crossing spectacle combines theatre, dance and original songs by Alice Merton and features Maria Dragus as Kriemhild and Aram Tafreshian as Etzel.
- Federal Defence Minister Boris Pistorius and Rhineland-Palatinate Minister-President Gordon Schnieder attended and Pistorius said the play mirrors today’s struggles over war and peace and underlines the need to be ready to protect peace.
- The open-air production is staged before Worms Cathedral on the site linked to the saga and runs under artistic director Nico Hofmann through August 2, highlighting ongoing interest in reworking national myth through international collaboration.