War and Its Businesses: Literary Theater About Power, War, and Profit
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When War Becomes a Commodity: A Literary-Musical Evening in Aalen
In the historic Old Town Hall Aalen, on October 20, 2026, a stage is opened for an uncomfortable question: What is the value of a soldier – and who profits from war? War and Its Businesses combines acting, readings, and music into a scenic exploration that treats history not as a distant archival piece but as a burning present.
Schubart's Cape Song as a Dramatic Starting Point
At the center is Christian Friedrich Daniel Schubart's famous Cape song. It was created against the backdrop of 1787, when 3,200 Württemberg soldiers were sold by the Duke to the Netherlands to secure their colony at the Cape of Good Hope. Only about 100 men returned; the Duke made 900,000 Reichstaler from this transaction. The historical episode is not just told in the performance, but reconstructed through texts and songs.
Literature as a Counter-Voice to Power
Schubart, Schiller, Heine, and Kleist emerge as literary witnesses of an era in which political power, economic calculation, and human suffering were closely intertwined. The dramaturgy travels through poems, prose, and musical passages and makes visible how literature contradicts the official narratives of war. Words become resistance, songs become memory, and the stage becomes a negotiation space for moral responsibility.
A Staging with a View to the Present
The evening consciously bridges to the latest war literature. This creates a stage experience that dissolves historical distance and focuses on current conflicts. The theater atmosphere of the Old Town Hall, the concentrated acoustics of an intimate venue, and the tension between spoken text and music give the questions an immediate physical presence.
At the center is not a simple historical evaluation but a precise dramaturgical investigation: How do people become numbers? When does military order transform into business? And which voices preserve the memory of those who become invisible in political calculations?
Audience Between History and Present
The acting craft of this literary-musical-scenic evening thrives on condensation. Historical documents, poetic language, and musical elements collide and generate a multi-layered audience reaction. The stage design remains committed to the power of the word: Each text sets an image, each song opens a resonant space, each historical number receives a human face.
Conclusion: An Evening That Resonates
War and Its Businesses promises theater as a space of discovery: poignant, musically and literarily founded. Those seeking the connection between stage art, history, and political diagnosis of the present will experience an evening in the Old Town Hall Aalen that does not stop at the past. Secure your ticket and experience live how literature makes war visible from the perspectives of those affected and the profiteers.
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