Gabriel
© SLT / Tobias Witzgall

Gabriel

George Sand

Ab 15 Jahren

A dialogue novel

Premiere: 16. Mai 2025 / Kammerspiele

Synopsis

Gabriel, an athletic, intellectually schooled young nobleman, is raised to correspond to the male ideal of the Italian Renaissance.

One day he learns that he is a biological woman. His grandfather had Gabriel raised as a man in order to manipulate the line of succession. When he begins to worry that Gabriel might develop an interest in the opposite sex, he tells him the truth to prevent the dark secret from being revealed. But Gabriel is headstrong and makes his own plans. He discovers love.

The figure of Gabriel was created by the brilliant woman writer George Sand, who has her protagonist declare: “My soul has no gender!” George Sand led a polyamorous life; in her writings she attacked the conventions of her time with verve. She wore men’s clothing and had affairs with both men and women.

The conflicts between emancipation and love, freedom and faithfulness had as much relevance in the 19th century as they do today. The stage production of the work overcomes categories of genre and gender.