It's about love, passion and death. About trust, power and politics. About the all-encompassing question "What is more important - great love or the big picture?" The story of Agnes Bernauer and Duke Albrecht III of Bavaria-Munich has everything a play needs. So it's no wonder that the subject matter has been driving writers for centuries, right up to the present day.
In 2024, around 200 amateur actors and participants will bring this drama to the stage in a new production in the inner courtyard of Straubing's ducal palace. Written and directed by Thomas Stammberger, Elena Hammerschmid plays Agnes Bernauer and Sebastian Danner plays Duke Albrecht III.
Agnes Bernauer Festival 2024 © Photographer: Jürgen Sperl
But what is the story about? Agnes Bernauer was the unseemly secret wife of the Bavarian Duke Albrecht III. She is said to have been the daughter of a bath attendant from Augsburg and a beauty. In the 15th century, bathers still belonged to the dishonest professions and their reputation was low. Agnes Bernauer was therefore by no means a suitable wife for a young duke. Children from this marriage would not have been entitled to inherit. Albrecht's father Duke Ernst therefore had her convicted of sorcery and drowned in the Danube near Straubing on October 12, 1435.
The Agnes Bernauer Festival: A magnificent production of a piece of Bavarian and Straubing town history that thrills more than 20,000 spectators every 4 years!
Advance ticket sales start on August 1, 2023 via okticket.de, the Straubinger Tagblatt reader service and all known advance booking offices.
June 21 to July 21, 2024
www.agnes-bernauer-festspiele.de
