A surreal fairy tale combining folklore, cabaret, and dark poetry: The Black Rider is a profound musical theater piece that plays on the threshold between dream, fear, and fantastical reality, transforming the stage of the Volkstheater Rostock into a place full of sound, symbolism, and eerie beauty.
In The Black Rider – The Mysterious Story of the Devil and the Devil's Glasses, a simple scholar encounters a mysterious stranger who promises him a pair of glasses with which he can see the hidden desires and longings of the world. But this glimpse into the hidden depths of the soul not only allows him to see wonders, it also reveals the dark side of his own dreams. Between temptation and doom, insight and madness, a play unfolds that explores the boundaries of reality and imagination in a subtle and dangerous way.
The music of the evening combines elements of folk, rock, blues, and avant-garde, creating a soundscape that is both familiar and unsettling. The ensemble performs this sound cosmos with great enthusiasm—sometimes abrupt, sometimes lyrical, always shifting between laconic humor and subjective intensity. The Black Rider is not a classical drama, but a theatrical experience that combines medieval fables with contemporary sensibilities, transporting the audience into a world where every insight comes at a price.
The production at the Volkstheater Rostock uses this multi-layered myth to make questions of longing and identity, seduction and decay audible and visible. The powerful combination of language, music, and scenic narration creates an evening that is as enigmatic as it is impressive—a theatrical experience that lingers long after the curtain falls.
Premiere April 11,
Further performances: April 17 and 26, May 9 and 16, 2026
