Claudia Bauer's Dadaist 'Misantropo' at Venice Biennale Theatre

At the 2017 Venice Biennale Theatre, director Claudia Bauer presented a contemporary adaptation of Molière's 'The Misanthrope', titled 'Der Menschen Feind' (production Theater Basel). The piece, written by musician and author Peter Licht, transforms the classic into a fast-paced, Dadaist farce. Bauer's staging features grotesque wigs, a baroque foosball table, and a sauna, with actors delivering hyperkinetic, distorted dialogue that reflects the emptiness of the characters. The production highlights the protagonist Alceste's struggle between authenticity and his dependence on the coquette Célimène. Licht's script incorporates modern references to migrants, terrorism, social media, and capitalism, while Bauer's direction emphasizes physical and verbal acrobatics. The cast, in bright costumes and masks, resembles marionettes, underscoring society's superficiality. The play closes with Alceste's solitary departure, having failed to find refuge in love. This work was part of Antonio Latella's first year as artistic director of the Biennale Teatro, which focused on female directors under the motto 'Ladies first!'. Latella's program included mini-retrospectives for directors like Nathalie Béasse, who presented four works.