The seer: a shocking play about violence and war

The seer: a shocking play about violence and war

Wien, Österreich - On June 5, 2025, the play “Die Seherin” by Milo Rau celebrated its premiere at the Viennese festival weeks. It is an urgent staging that addresses the use of violence in art. The focus is on the main actress Ursina Lardi, who plays the role of a war photographer who travels to global crisis areas to find dramatic pictures. As reports [Nachtkritik.de] (https://nachtkritik.de/nachttritiken/oesterreich/wien-niederoesterreich/wiener-festwochen/dieer-feiser-festwochen-milo-raus-uber-de--auf-auf- der-der-der-der-Buhne), the scenery is characterized by barren desert landscapes, through plastic waste and Car tires that reflect the brutalization of society.

In the performance, Iraqi Azad Hassan is presented, the mutilated fate of which circulated in a violent video on the Internet. He tells of the invasion of the "Islamic State" in Mossul and confronts the audience with the reality of violent videos that were filmed and published online by jihadists. The combination of Lardi's shocked pictures and Hassan's impressive memories presents the viewers before the question of how they behave on the representations of violence in the media.

ethics of representation of violence

The piece is not just a mirror of society, but encourages self -questioning about the fascination of violence. The ethics of the representation of violence on the stage and the role of the audience are highlighted in this discussion. Several central questions make the bow to a deeper reflection: Why is violence so seductive? What remains after war and terror? And can art actually alleviate suffering? These topics are not only relevant for the theater, but also for society as a whole, as the direction of Milo Rau shows impressively.

How to underline interesting details, the development of the war photographer becomes clear from a celebrated personality to a bitter Kassandra. Your search for subjects of horror turns over when she even feels the devastating effects of violence firsthand. The inspiration of the play is fed by life stories of war photographer: inside and Iraqi citizens: inside, whereby out of their own experiences, especially his encounters with Hassan, play a major role, so [Festwochen.at] (https://www.festwochen.at/die seerin).

The dramaturgical highlight is particularly noteworthy: after the performance, Azad Hassan steps onto the stage and is showered with jubilation. An impressive moment that illustrates the gap between the media reception of violence and reality. The piece takes 1 hour and 30 minutes without a break and is accompanied by an impressive staging for which Anton Lukas designed the stage and costumes, while Elia Rediger is responsible for the sound.

The Viennese festival weeks have taken up an important topic with this production that is not only in our realms, but is relevant worldwide. At a time when violent reporting and their consumption, both in the news as well as in entertainment, omnipresent, "the seer" represents an urgent request to think about what we see, how we perceive it and what ethics is connected with it.

In art history there is also a reflection on how to deal with the presentation of violence. Artists such as Horst Strempel, who was active in the 1920s and 1930s and was committed to politically in the left, experienced the complexity between art and power: Strempel found no access to the western avant-garde after he was suspected of suspicion due to his socialist engagement in West Berlin, as explained (https://www.guernica-gesellschaft.de/ This makes it clear that the discourse on violence in art has been important and must be continued for some time.