Kinder des Paradieses (Children of Paradise)

A collective dream, full of poetry, magic and beauty, takes us into the world of artists during the Biedermeier period. The captivating Garance manages to beguile mime artist Baptiste Deburau, poet and murderer Lacenaire, actor Frédérick Lemaître and the wealthy Count de Montray, thus ensuring her own survival on the Boulevard du Crime. Her motto: "Love is so simple!" "Les Enfants du Paradis", magnum opus of director Marcel Carné, was shot in German-occupied Paris during the Second World War, under the wary eye of the French and German fascist censorship. Writer Jacques Prévert created the role of Garance, who yearns for personal independence and comprehensive freedom, specifically for Arletty, France’s most famous female actor of the time. In real life, Arletty paid dearly after the war for her choices in love – she had been involved with a German officer. 

Director Ola Mafaalani confronts the "Children of Paradise" with their genesis – a show about the relationship between fiction and reality, art and politics, love and crime.

We regularly present performances of "Children of Paradise" with English surtitles. You can find the dates here. Our box office staff will be happy to tell you from which seats you will have a good sight-line to the surtitles. For the best view of both stage and surtitles, we recommend seats in the stalls (Parkett) from row 11, or in the balconies (1. Rang, 2. Rang). Seats in the side boxes have a partially obstructed view.