Die Ehe der Maria Braun, Photo: © Arno Declair, 2014 
Die Ehe der Maria Braun, Photo: © Arno Declair, 2014 
Die Ehe der Maria Braun, Photo: © Arno Declair, 2014 
Die Ehe der Maria Braun, Photo: © Arno Declair, 2014 
Die Ehe der Maria Braun, Photo: © Arno Declair, 2014 
Die Ehe der Maria Braun, Photo: © Arno Declair, 2014 
Die Ehe der Maria Braun, Photo: © Arno Declair, 2014 
Die Ehe der Maria Braun, Photo: © Arno Declair, 2014 
Die Ehe der Maria Braun, Photo: © Arno Declair, 2014 
Die Ehe der Maria Braun, Photo: © Arno Declair, 2014 
Die Ehe der Maria Braun, Photo: © Arno Declair, 2014 
 

Die Ehe der Maria Braun (The Marriage of Maria Braun)

After the original by Rainer Werner Fassbinder
Script: Peter Märthesheimer and Pea Fröhlich
Director: Thomas Ostermeier

Stage A

Take-over of a production of the Münchner Kammerspiele

Hermann and Maria Braun are getting married in a town hall, which has just been hit by a bomb during the Second World War. Two days later Hermann has to return to the front and doesn’t make it back once the war is over. Maria waits, eking out a living and then receives the news that he is dead. She works in a bar and begins a relationship with a black GI. One evening, when she’s just about to go to bed with him, Hermann walks through the door. She strikes her lover dead. In court, her husband takes all the blame on himself and goes to jail for her. In his place, Maria strives towards a better life. Towards a common future on the Big Day, the day of his second return. She learns the basic economic laws of the boom years of the just founded German Republic and believes herself to be in control of her emotional life which is, however, dictated by economic rules. A mistake for which she will end up paying a high price. »The Marriage of Maria Braun«, the 38th film made by Fassbinder in his short lifetime, is the first part of the Federal Republic of Germany trilogy (after »Lola« and »The Longing of Veronika Voss«) and is at the heart of Fassbinder's confrontation with the founding myths of the Federal Republic.

After the film by: Rainer Werner Fassbinder
Director: Thomas Ostermeier
Stage Design: Nina Wetzel
Costume Design: Ulrike Gutbrod, Nina Wetzel
Video: Sébastien Dupouey
Music: Nils Ostendorf
Dramaturgy: Julia Lochte, Florian Borchmeyer
Maria Braun: Ursina Lardi
Hermann Braun, Betti, Amerikanischer Soldat, Journalist, Kellner: Sebastian Schwarz
Standesbeamter, Opa Berger, Bronski, Dolmetscher, Karl Oswald, Notarin: Thomas Bading
Mutter, Arzt, Richter, Senkenberg Wärter, Anwalt, Kellner: Robert Beyer
Rotkreuzschwester, Schwarzmarkthändler Bill, Willi, Schaffner, Amerikanischer Geschäftsmann, Frau Ehmke, Kellner, Wetzel: Moritz Gottwald
Duration: ca. 110 minutes

Premiere at the Schaubühne was on November 23, 2009
Resumption with a new cast premiered on 6 September 2014

Tour Dates

Avignon (July 2014)
Paris (June 2015)
Venice (August 2015)
Girona (November 2015)
Sibiu (June 2016)
Zagreb (September 2016)
Santiago de Chile (January 2017)
Tianjin and Beijing (July 2017)
Madrid (April 2018)
Thessaloniki (September/October 2023)