Charges (The Supplicants)

(Die Schutzbefohlenen)

Cast

variable casting

Almost every day, the Mediterranean Sea washes refugees from Africa up on the shores of Europe, and almost every day, the Western values of humanism, democracy and human rights have to measure up to their real-world application. Drawing on Aeschylus’ drama The Suppliants, Elfriede Jelinek presents Charges (The Supplicants) as “a prosaic text, dedicated to the European tragedy which probably has no equal in contemporary literature. The opus is a great aesthetic monument, a mournful cry to heaven, filled with old-style vehemence and grief …” (Die Zeit)

“Good to see that someone has the courage to entrust theater with so much moral objection … Charges (The Supplicants) is an important and angry play.” (Sueddeutsche Zeitung)

World premiere
23.05.2014 Theater der Welt, Mannheim / Thalia Theater Hamburg (Director: Nicolas Stemann)

Translations
Catalonian (Translator: Ramon Farres)
English Charges (The Supplicants) (Translator: Gitta Honegger)
Flemish (Translator: Tom Kleijn)
Belgian premiere spring 2017, Toneelgroep Antwerpen (Translator: Tom Kleijn; director: Guy Cassiers)
French Les Suppliants (Translators: Magali Jourdan / Mathilde Sobottke)
French language premiere 29.03.2018 La Comedie de Reims (Director: Ludivic Lagarde)
Portuguese Os Protegidos (Translator: Anabela Mendes)
Portuguese premiere: 23.11.2023 AMAS - Auditório Municipal António Silva, Sintra (Director: Pedro Alves)
Polish Podopieczni (Translator: Karolina Bikont)
Polish premiere 14.11.2015 Teatr Nowy w Zabrzu (Director: Katarzyna Deszcz)
Spanish Los tutelados (Translator: Miguel Sáenz)
Swedish De skyddsbehövande (Translator: Magnus Lindman)
Swedish premiere 02.04.2016 Folkteatern Göteborg (Director: Yngve Dahlberg)

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