Playhouse

What you need to know: Lessing’s Nathan the Wise

Theater quick check by Larissa Schütz

(Bild: Krone KREATIV/Tschepp, stock.adobe.com)

Whether you're on the trolleybus on the way to the performance, having a cigarette before the premiere or waiting in the toilet queue, with this quick check you'll be perfectly prepared for the evening in just 2 minutes. The "Krone" has the most important information about Lessing's "Nathan the Wise".

What's it about? Today, the Schauspielhaus is showing the patchwork classic by Lessing, who was already thinking about diversity in the 18th century and shows that it would also have worked in the 12th century.

Plot: During the Third Crusade, the Jewish merchant Nathan returns after a business trip to his adopted daughter Recha, who was saved in his absence by the Christian Templar Curd von Stauffen during a house fire - it wasn't just the fire that crackled. The Muslim Sultan Saladin is having financial problems, which is why his sister recommends that he should pump Nathan. However, the sultan doesn't ask him for money, but rather: "Which religion is the true one?" The merchant answers with the legendary ring parable: a father has three sons, but only one valuable ring. He has two copies made so that each inherits the same. After his death, a dispute arises about authenticity, which the judge settles by determining that all the rings are equally valuable because the father loved all his sons equally. Ergo: all religions are equal. The Sultan then offers Nathan his friendship and a loan.

A family drama ensues: Curd and Recha want to marry, which Nathan refuses, as it turns out that Recha is the daughter of the Sultan's deceased brother and this brother is Curd's father, making the lovers siblings. The initial confusion is followed by joy at the new, colorful family. And the moral of the story: religion is like a family recipe - everyone makes it a little differently, but the main thing is that it tastes good.

Bragging knowledge for the interval: Lessing never saw the play, as it was only performed two years after his death. The character of Nathan is partly based on Lessing's friend Moses Mendelssohn, a Jewish philosopher.