Il Gattopardo

Theatertreffen 2026 | 10 remarkable productions

Il Gattopardo – Eine junge Frau in einem Reifrock steht in einem Salon, im Hintergrund sind weitere Personen in historischen Kostümen

by Giuseppe Tomasi di Lampedusa

Translation by Burkhart Kroeber

Adapted for the stage by Pınar Karabulut and Hannah Schünemann

Schauspielhaus Zurich

Premiere: 29.11.2025

 

In the finely detailed decor of an opulent palace Pınar Karabulut and her team present Il Gattopardo in atmospheric and haunting style as the decline of a family and a way of life in the course of political change.

The Sicilian Prince Don Fabrizio di Salina is an old school patriarch – influential, cultivated, steadfast. But the political changes of the 19th century are turning his respected aristocratic family upside down: his nephew Tancredi has joined the freedom fighter Garibaldi, and the middle classes have entered the family in the form of the young Angelica. How does the new world order affect individual longings? Can a world whose power lies in the hands of a tiny few really change? In Giuseppe Tomasi di Lampedusa’s richly atmospheric novel Il Gattopardo (The Leopard), ambience and storytelling, descriptions of locations and family psychology merge. Together with her ensemble, Pınar Karabulut creates a sweeping and evocative portrait of an age that feels vividly multidimensional in the impressive stage designs of Michela Flück, the splendid costumes of Sara Valentina Giancare and the elegantly composed soundscapes of Daniel Murena.

Jury Statement

“Evenings of theatre like Pınar Karabulut’s adaptation of Giuseppe Tomasi di Lampedusa’s Il Gattopardo (The Leopard) have become rare. Together with stage designer Michela Flück and costume designer Sara Valentina Giancare, Karabulut brings aristocratic Sicily in the era of the Risorgimento back to life in a magical way. The opulence of the rooms and costumes and the almost seamless psychological playing of the ensemble draw the audience deep into the 19th century, where they can lose themselves in the beauty of this world in decline and in the melancholy noblesse of Prince Don Fabrizio played by Markus Scheumann. At the same time, they can also recognise symptoms of our own changing times. Karabulut sticks closely to Lampedusa’s novel and by doing so keeps our own crisis-torn reality in view. Scheumann’s concluding monologue is not only a dying man’s moving assessment of his life. It is also a warning not to be like Don Fabrizio and to fight for what exists.”

– Sascha Westphal for the Theatertreffen-jury

To the video statement (in German)

 

Artistic Team

Pınar Karabulut – Direction

Michela Flück – Stage

Sara Valentina Giancane – Costume Design

Daniel Murena – Music

Michel Güntert – Lighting

Hannah Schünemann – Dramaturgy

Cast

Markus Scheumann – Don Fabrizio, Prince of Salina

Nicola Gründel – Maria Stella Corbera, Princess of Salina

Sophia Mercedes Burtscher – Concetta Corbera di Salina

Peter Knaack – Father Saverio Pirrone

Mouataz Alshaltouh – Tancredi Falconeri

David Rothe – Paolo Corbera di Salina, Duke of Querceta / Carlo Cavriaghi, Count from Milan

Alexander Angeletta – Don Calogero Sedàra

Mirjam Rast – Angelica Sedàra

Michael Neuenschwander – Don Ciccio Tumeo

Pino Simili – Mimi

Lukas Rathjen – Pastorello / Domenico

Ronja Melissa Leute – Carolina / Luigi

Supported by Zürcher Kantonalbank and Istituto Italiano di Cultura di Zurigo, Società Dante Alighieri Zurigo and Gruppo Gattopardo Svizzero.

The shows in Berlin are supported by Pro Helvetia, Swiss Arts Council.

The premiere reception is supported by the Embassy of Switzerland.

Logo Schweizerische Botschaft in der Bundesrepublik Deutschland

Performing rights: Adapted for the stage by Pınar Karabulut and Hannah Schünemann from the translation by Burkhart Kroeber, published in 2019 as Der Leopard by Piper Verlag, Munich

Permission has kindly been approved by the publishers 

Based on the book: IL GATTOPARDO

Copyright 2002, Giangiacomo Feltrinelli Editore, Milano

All rights reserved

Piper Verlag GmbH is represented by Gustav Kiepenheuer Bühnenvertriebs-GmbH, Berlin

Audience Talk

on Saturday, 2.5.2026 after the performance

Watch the full-length performance on television

on Saturday, 16.5.2026 at 20:15 on 3sat

Watch the full-length performance online

in the 3satMediathek and in the Berliner Festspiele Media Library from Friday, 1.5.2026 for one year

Next date:

• Date Friday, 01/May/2026 19:00 (1 more date)
• Venue Haus der Berliner Festspiele - Große Bühne
• Address Schaperstraße 24, 10719 Berlin-Wilmersdorf