Die Welt muss romantisiert werden
(The world must be romanticised)
‚By attributing a higher sense to the common,
a mystical quality to the ordinary,
paying respect in equal measures to the familiar and the unfamiliar,
making the finite appear infinite,
I romanticise it.‘
Novalis
Georg Philipp Friedrich Freiherr von Hardenberg, a.k.a. Novalis, is one of the great masters of early German romanticism. He educated himself extensively in fields that ranged from philosophy, history, philology, physics, chemistry to mathematics, in addition to his law and mining sciences studies at university.
Whenever Novalis talked about ‚romanticising‘ in his writings, he referred to a qualitative upgrading of reality. Where he was concerned, improving the original condition of something with the aid of imagination and poetry was ‚the true, absolute reality‘. ‚Romanticising the world means perceiving it as a continuum in which everything is connected to everything else. The original totality of the world becomes fathomable and communicable only through this poetic act of romanticisation as the actual sense of the work of art.‘ Novalis repeatedly mused about the reintroduction of magic into the world as a deeply romantic act, a quest for the mysteries concealed by reality. This is the core of his philosophy and poetry: ‚The more poetic, the truer‘.
Alexander Scheer is at home in the theatre, in films and on the music stages. His career began with the film Sonnenallee 20 years ago. He is now well-known to a wide audience for his impressively sensitive as well as versatile performances. His most recent appearances include the title role in Gundermann and the lawyer in Rabiye Kurnaz vs. George W. Bush. His theatre work has not only included performances in Bochum, Hamburg, Vienna and Frankfurt; he was also a member of Frank Castorf‘s cast at the Berliner Volksbühne on Rosa-Luxemburg-Platz for many years. From time to time, he also performs as a singer and guitarist.
