Winnetou and Old Shatterhand pay their respects in Saxon Switzerland

Winnetou and Old Shatterhand will do the honors next summer at the Felsenbühne Rathen in Saxon Switzerland. From May to September, a total of seven productions are planned on the natural stage in the Elbe Sandstone Mountains, as the Landesbühnen Sachsen announced on Friday for the 2024 season.

With the premiere of the adventure play "Shatterhand" freely after Karl May begins on May 18 the season under the open sky. The main role will be played by Sascha Gluth, the longtime title character of the Störtebeker Festival on the island of Rügen. "After two seasons as Old Shatterhand in Bad Segeberg, I have a very special relationship with this role," said the actor. For him, it is already the fourth collaboration with the Saxon theater.

The "Freischütz" by Carl Maria von Weber, which drew nearly 10,000 guests to the natural stage in 2023, is also part of the program in 2024. Felsenbühne premiere, meanwhile, will be the operetta "Im weißen Rößl" and Richard Wagner's opera classic "The Flying Dutchman." "Peter Pan", the hit of this year's season with DEFA legend Gojko Mitic as the chieftain, will be performed again, as will Wilhelm Hauff's "Das kalte Herz". In addition, "Pettersson and Findus" cavort in the bizarre rock world.

This summer, the natural theater drew about 73,000 visitors - nearly a third more than in the first year after the stage was renovated two years ago.