About the work
Die drei Leben der Hannah Arendt (The Three Lives of Hannah Arendt) is a stage adaptation after Ken Krimstein's graphic biography "The Three Escapes of Hannah Arendt", on the life and thought of the political philosopher Hannah Arendt (1906–1975). The work makes one of the most influential thinkers of the 20th century accessible to the theatre.
Plot
In condensed scenic form, central stations of Arendt's life are traced: her Jewish childhood and study of philosophy in Germany, the relationship with her teacher Martin Heidegger, her flight from the National Socialists and the years of exile in Paris, and finally internment and emigration to the USA, where she attained world renown as an essayist and theorist. Interwoven with these biographical stations are Arendt's fundamental political ideas — on totalitarian rule, the nature of evil, and the meaning of action and the public realm — which come to life on stage in dialogue and monologue.
Cultural significance
Hannah Arendt is among the most significant political thinkers of the 20th century; her concepts, such as the "banality of evil", shape political debate to this day. Stage adaptations of her life and thought make complex philosophy accessible to a broad audience and combine biography with reflection on democracy, flight and moral responsibility — themes of undiminished topicality.