With a stage as modern and close to the audience as the Donmare Warehouse theatre, it’s hard to imagine how The Prince of Homberg will play out. However, if they get it right it could transform the Donmar into 17th Century Brandenburg for the Battle of Fehrbellin in 1675, and create an amazing atmospheric production.
Starting on the 22nd July and running through to the 4th September 2010, the play was written by Heinrich von Kleist in 1809-10, but it was never performed in Heinrich’s lifetime because Princess Marianne of Prussia (of the Hesse-Homburg family by birth) got the hump about it insulting her family.
The play follows the Prince of Homberg, Friedrich von Hessen-Homburg, as he follows his dreams and ambitions into the Battle of Fehrbellin in 1675. When foolish disobedience leads to victory, he’s faced with a new battle under the critical stare of the Great Elector, Frederick William I.
Having seen the potential of the Donmar Warehouse with Mark Haddon’s Polar Bears, The Prince of Homberg could be a stunning performance. A play of ambition, courage, love and honour, it is apparently both haunting and beautiful.
