When does The Castle Lady take place?

The performance begins on Tuesday, November 17, 2026, at 8:00 PM.

Where will the play be performed?

The event takes place at the Young Theater Göttingen, Bürgerstraße 15, 37073 Göttingen.

How much does a ticket cost?

Tickets are available from 23 euros according to event information. Discounts are available.

How long does the performance last?

The performance lasts about 80 minutes. An audience discussion is scheduled afterwards.

Is the theater accessible for people with disabilities?

The Young Theater Göttingen claims to be barrier-free. For specific assistance with booking, direct contact with the box office is recommended.

What is The Castle Lady about?

The play is set in 1947 and tells of Dora and Michael, who discover a Jewish girl in a castle who still believes that the war is ongoing.

The Castle Lady: A Moving Chamber Play about Truth, Guilt, and Freedom

Name: The Castle Lady
Start: 2026-11-17T20:00:00+01:00
End: 2026-11-17T21:20:00+01:00
Location: Junges Theater Göttingen

The Castle Lady: A Chamber Play about Memory, Guilt, and the Difficult Freedom

On November 17, 2026, Lea Goldberg's compelling play The Castle Lady will be staged at the Young Theater Göttingen. The production transports us to a Europe in 1947, where the war is officially over, yet its shadow pervades every conversation, gesture, and decision.

A Castle as an Echo of History

Dora and Michael travel from Eretz Israel. Dora is searching for Jewish children who survived the Holocaust. Michael is hunting for stolen books from Jewish libraries to return them to the National Library in Jerusalem. A storm forces them into the castle of a mysterious count, whose past is closely tied to the German occupation.

The dramaturgy unfolds as a concentrated chamber play. In conversations with the castle lord, moral certainties shift: The count allowed the Nazis, whom he despised, to use his castle as headquarters, yet from this proximity, he relayed information to the resistance. A tension arises between collaboration, resistance, and self-justification, directly leading the audience into the ethical breaches of the post-war period.

The Truth Behind Closed Doors

Then Dora and Michael discover a young girl. Lena has been hiding in the castle for two years. Her family was deported and murdered, and she escaped the persecutions, confiding in the count. Out of fear, he keeps her believing that the war is still ongoing. Without daylight and fresh air, Lena is trapped in an artificially prolonged past.

Here the production gains its chilling power. The stage design becomes a psychological space: The castle both protects and confines, while every door raises questions about responsibility, care, and possession anew. The acting thrives on subtle shifts, pauses, and glances, where repressed history suddenly breaks through.

Lea Goldberg's Post-War Theater

Lea Goldberg's play, first written in 1955, is part of the early engagement of Israeli theater with the Holocaust. The new German translation by Gundula Schiffer preserves the precise, dialogical structure and makes the historical conflicts directly tangible for a contemporary audience. The production connects the political history of theater with an intimate study of trauma, memory, and the possibility of a new beginning.

An Intense Stage Experience with Audience Discussion

The performance lasts about 80 minutes. Afterwards, an audience discussion is announced, providing space for questions about history, dramaturgy, and stage art. The theater atmosphere promises a focused evening: no sentimental image of history, but a dense play about people who must live with the truth after the collapse of a world.

Conclusion: The Castle Lady awaits the audience as a moving, historically aware chamber play about guilt, protection, and the demand of freedom. Those who experience theater as a place of confrontation will find in Göttingen an evening that continues to resonate long after the final applause. Tickets for the guest performance on November 17, 2026, are available from 23 euros.