Brighton Festival 2026
Kohlhaas
Directed by Omar Elerian, Performed by Arinzé Kene
Genre: Adaptation, Solo Performance, Theatre
Venue: Brighton Dome Corn Exchange
Festival: Brighton Festival
Low Down
A world premiere, the first full in-house production by a festival celebrating its 60th year, Kohlhaas brings horses back to the Corn Exchange with a powerful one-man canter through a story rich in atmosphere and resonance.
Tickets available for Mon 4 and Tue 5 May performances.
Italian adaptation from the original novella by Marco Baliani and Remo Rostagno
English translation by Omar Elerian
Directed by Omar Elerian
Lighting and Smoke Effects Design by Jackie Shemesh
Installation and Costume Design by Ana Inés Jabares-Pita
Composition and Sound Design by Dan Pollard and Matthew Herbert
Performed by Arinzé Kene MBE
Adapted from the original novella Michael Kohlhaas (1808) by Heinrich von Kleist
Photo Helen Murray
Review
It sometimes takes a festival to introduce you to a writer you (certainly I) have never heard of before. Heinrich von Kleist has a theatre and a literature prize named after him in his native Germany and his stories have been published and translated, plays performed and work turned into opera since 1803. The novella Michael Kohlhaas (based on real life story) has been filmed twice and screened at Cannes. Some back catalogue then, for a troubled man who’s literary career was cut short by his suicide in 1811.
Director Omar Elerian translated the novella into English from the condensed Italian version at a time when America was reeling from the murder of George Floyd, finding parallels in the urgency of the response and national demands for justice.
Kohlhaas was a 16th Century Brandenburg horse dealer who, tricked by a rich Baron into leaving two fine black horses as collateral for a spurious toll, pursues the course of justice to extremes. What starts out as a quest to right a bad bargain becomes a trail of bloody retribution that devastates villages and slays innocent people. It’s an epic tale brought vividly to life in Arinzé Kene’s towering performance; his voice moving through octaves perfectly pitched as narrator and protagonist, as wife and gypsy, baron and prince.
The text riffs on the circularity of life “The enclosure of the heart” says Kohlhaas. It’s echoed in Ana Inés Jabares-Pita’s stage design of a central circle, framed and expanded by Jackie Shemesh’s dramatic, richly monochrome lighting. In a moment of double vision I saw two Kenes on stage, like some kind of magical realism conjuring the pair of black horses.
When legal challenges fail, and triggered by his wife’s fateful attempt to help him, Kohlhass becomes fanatical, gathering forces to support his claim. He is both avenging angel and deranged devil, laying waste to Saxony and blind to the fact that his actions are leading to an inevitably sorry end. The Barons, Princes and Emperor have the power, connections and capital to offer Kohlhaas both a settlement and a death sentence.
The 90 minute monologue is totally propelled by Kene’s performance – it rewards close listening to fully appreciate Dan Pollard and Matthew Herbert’s wonderfully eclectic sound design that carefully resists overpowering the narrative flow. Whilst the production doesn’t totally transform the Corn Exchange from an end-on theatre space it does focus attention through light, sound, voice and movement to bring a gripping story to life.
