Elective Affinities

It is the second marriage for both Eduard and Charlotte – who want to relive their adolescent love affair, 20 years later, in an idyllic and remote estate. Expecting a pleasant summer, the couple invites a few guests: Eduard’s best friend the Captain, and Ottilie, Charlotte’s very young niece. And suddenly, the characters experience an irresistible attraction towards each other, pulling them away from their existing life and love relationships. What starts out as a suspenseful science experiment, ends in the loss of illusions, in loneliness and death.

Oliver Reese has compressed Goethe’s novel, which the author considered to be his best work, into a concentrated chamber play.