Ajax: The Swan of Shame

• Theatre

by Christopher Rüping and Ensemble after Sophokles / directed by Christopher Rüping / world premiere

"As ballet dancers our bodies are very trained, it takes years and years to develop in a certain way. The average person can't get their bodies to look that way.” (Sarah Lane, Natalie Portman's double in “Black Swan”)

For a long time, Ajax was the undisputed number two before Troy, always overshadowed by the legendary Achilles. When he dies on the battlefield, Odysseus receives his weapons - a distinction that insults Ajax's honor. Driven by ambition, he loses his mind and throws himself on his sword. Heiner Müller describes him as “Arnold Schwarzenegger in the WÜSTENSTURM”. But what would it be like to interpret Ajax in a more contemporary way? Sophocles' play could be read as a meditation on ambition, shame and failure - topics that shape our lives but are often taboo. And what happens when a woman is afflicted by the “Ajax complex”?


Christopher Rüping’s first directing project at Thalia Theater was Wolfgang Herrndorf’s “Tschick” (2012). It is still in repertory. Today, over ten years later, Rüping is one of the most renowned directors in German-language theatre. He was a resident director at Kammerspiele Munich and Schauspielhaus Zürich. He has been invited five times to Theatertreffen Berlin. At Thalia Theater, his most recent works encompass, among others, the acclaimed adaptations of Benjamin Stuckrad-Barre’s novels “Panic Heart” and “Are you awake?”

World premiere 15th January 2025, Thalia Theater