Die Gesetzlosen
Queer-feminist western / Marginalized perspectives / Novel adaption
based on »Outlawed« by Anna North
In her alternative Western novel Outlawed (German title: Die Gesetzlose), author Anna North paints a picture of an America devastated by a catastrophic flu epidemic. In this conservative, religiously influenced society, fertility is considered a woman’s highest virtue—infertility is equated with witchcraft or sin.
The protagonist Ada, a young midwife, is cast out after failing to conceive a child even after a year of marriage. To escape a looming execution, she flees and joins a group of outlaws—a band of queer and non-conforming outsiders.
In her stage adaptation for Theaterhaus Jena, director Anne Sophie Kapsner shifts the focus from Ada’s personal story to the trials and adventures of the outlaws—a group typically absent from the classic Western. Familiar motifs from Western literature and film are taken up, questioned, and ultimately reimagined to draw alternative visions of societal norms—not to ride off into the sunset alone, but to find, create, and preserve spaces of refuge and connection.
Age recommendation: 15+
World premiere: 08.05.2025
A production from the »Open Call 2023/24« program.
Dates
19
Mar
19:30
Out of town
Die Gesetzlosen
Queer-feministischer Western / Marginalisierte Perspektiven / Romanadaption
PARKTHEATER Bensheim Georg-Stolle-Platz 5, Bensheim
Impressions
Team
Direction: Anne Sophie Kapsner
Equipment: Marlene Pieroth
Music: Laura Eggert
Video: FangSheng Chou
Dramaturgy: Josef Bäcker
Assistant Director: Thomas Schmale
Assistant Equipment: Lenni Hofer
Music mastered and mix and mastering of "Kings" by: Queer Ear Mastering (Tara Transitory & Nguyễn Baly)
Playing: Jonathan Perleth, Mona Louisa-Melinka Hempel, Thato Kämmerer, Ioana Nițulescu, Léa Zehaf
Support: Trafo Jena, Braugasthof Papiermühle Jena, West Ridge Ranch, FLINTA* Personen, Jo-Ann Döring, Who-be
Content: A video is projected showing the dismemberment of a skinned rabbit.
Light: Strobe lights are used. These light stimuli can trigger seizures in individuals with epilepsy.
Press
An exciting production – humorous, surprising, hopeful, and entertaining. And a genre that is turned on its head, as the exclusively male-patriarchal image of the Western is met with a decidedly female voice.
- Ulrike Kern, Ostthüringer Zeitung, May 10, 2025