The Stranger

Albert Camus

Premiere: March 28, 2026 / Kammerspiele

Synopsis

“Man seeking meaning must feel a stranger in a meaningless world.” – Albert Camus

The story of a young Frenchman in Algeria who is made a murderer by a ridiculous coincidence was a literary sensation in occupied France in 1942 and became one of the most-printed French novels of the 20th century. The work marked Albert Camus’s breakthrough as an author and is today considered one of the main texts of existentialism.

“Mother died today. Or maybe yesterday; I can’t be sure.” This is how Camus’s protagonist Meursault begins his story, in a few unemotional words. After the wake and the funeral in the country, Meursault returns to his unexcited daily life in Algiers. He perceives the details of his surroundings without taking a stand – neither on violence and injustice nor on love and connectedness. The offer of a career in Paris holds no appeal for him; he is satisfied with his life continuing as usual. His neighbour, Raymond Sintès, draws the emotionless man into a revenge story involving a former lover. When Meursault is blinded by the reflection of the sun on the knife of an attacker, he grabs a gun and kills the opponent with one shot. “I knew I’d shattered the balance of the day, the spacious calm of this beach on which I had been happy.” In its unsparing depiction of indifference, Camus’s work contains a plea for human compassion.

Albert Camus (1913–1960) is considered one of the most significant French authors of the 20th century. During World War II, he was the leading intellectual figure of the French Resistance against the German occupation. His work as a journalist is strongly influenced by the philosophy of existentialism. Camus received the Nobel Prize in Literature for his life’s work in 1957. He died in a car accident in 1960.

Murat Dikenci studied Applied Cultural Studies in Lüneburg and began gathering theatre experience in Berlin. Since 2007, Dikenci has been acting in films and on TV (e.g. “Berlin Station”, “Tatort”) as well as on stage (Maxim Gorki Theater, Schauspiel Köln). With “Sesperado”, his first directorial work, he was invited to participate in the Theatertreffen der Jugend in 2017. Since the 2023/2024 season, he has been in charge of STUDIO Я at the Maxim Gorki Theater in Berlin.