On 6 November, Rosa Luxemburg comes to the stage at the Deutsches Theater not just as a historical figure, but as an image already shaped by others. ‘Rosa L.’ takes Margarethe von Trotta’s feature film and Kate Evans’ graphic novel as its starting points. Director Anica Tomić and writer Jelena Kovačić adapt the material for the stage and, according to the theatre, carry it forward into the present.
The question, then, is not just how Luxemburg is portrayed. It is also about what becomes visible in the shift between media – and what changes when a political thinker, previously presented as a film character and through an illustrated biography, now appears in a theatre space.
From cinematic image to illustrated biography
Von Trotta’s film ‘Rosa Luxemburg’ was released in 1986. Combining dramatised and documentary scenes, it focuses on the socialist’s political work and private life. Barbara Sukowa played Luxemburg. The film gives a historical person a face, a voice and a presence rooted in the performer and the cinematic narrative.
Kate Evans’ graphic novel ‘Red Rosa’ takes a different approach. Drawing and text can translate political thought into images and place different narrative strands side by side. The perspective shifts not through a cut, but across the page: from the figure to the idea, from historical context to illustrated interpretation. What takes shape here is not simply a substitute for film or non-fiction, but a distinct way of telling the story of Luxemburg’s life and thought.
The fact that the stage adaptation names both sources offers a clue to its origins, but not yet a precise description of its aesthetic. The Deutsches Theater has announced no specific projections, sequence of images or staging techniques. What is certain is that the adaptation is by Jelena Kovačić and Anica Tomić, with Tomić directing. Mila Mazić, Drina Krlić, Nenad Kovačić and Marco Scherle are responsible for set, costumes, music and lighting respectively.
A historical figure in the present
Luxemburg’s biography leads from her birth in 1871 in what was then the Russian Empire, through her political work in Germany, to her murder in Berlin on 15 January 1919. She was a socialist, a Marxist theorist and an outspoken voice against militarism and war. The theatre explicitly links its engagement with her thought to contemporary issues: militarisation, growing nationalism and fear as a political instrument. This is the production’s announced perspective, not a judgement on a performance that has yet to take place.
The shift between media poses a particular challenge. A film can frame historical situations through montage and documentary material; a graphic novel organises them as a sequence of drawn images. On stage, history must be explored in a shared space and within the time of the performance. What stance the ensemble takes towards Luxemburg’s political legacy, and how the different sources translate into language, movement and design, cannot be said with certainty before the premiere.
The cast includes Mareike Beykirch, Caner Sunar, Jörg Pose and Anastasia Gubareva. The announcement does not specify their roles. The Kammer at the Deutsches Theater thus becomes the setting for a world premiere that does not merely retell a familiar life, but asks how a historical figure is used today: is Luxemburg primarily remembered, regarded as an icon – or read anew as a political thinker? Only the production itself can provide an answer.
Original reviewed by the editors · 3 November 2026
