Statement on CREDO
by Achim Thorwald

The project Credo was born of a desire to portray the three great monotheistic world religions, Judaism, Christianity and Islam – deriving equally from the written word and inspired by Abraham – both in their differences and in their similarities. This idea is in line with the German theologian Hans Küng's 'Project Global Ethics' and the saying 'No peace between religions without dialogue – no peace in the world without peace between religions'.

Lessing's hero Nathan the Wise, the single character dominating this work, repeatedly calls for just such a dialogue:

Let each of you now seek to emulate
that pure affection, free from prejudice.
Let each of you compete to demonstrate
the magic virtue vested in his ring.

By means of quotations from the three holy books, from the Tower of Babel to utterances of contemporary religious thinkers, seven actors expound situations ranging from divisive violence to those that unify, accompanied and commented upon by singers, instrumental soloists, large orchestral forces and video and original TV extracts. The object is to demonstrate the underlying and unifying humanity which exists in spite of religious and cultural diversity.

There can be no more appropriate location for this project than Istanbul, that bridge between Asia and Europe where disparate peoples, religions and cultures have tolerantly co-existed for so many centuries.



Achim Thorwald, born in Stuttgart in 1943, studied at the Mozarteum Salzburg. He later worked as an actor and director in Hamburg and Neurenberg. In 1975 he became the Head Producer of the Freiburger  Municipal Theatre, a year later he became the Director of the Württemberg Municipal Theatre in Esslingen. From 1985 to 1988 he was the Director of the Würzburg Municipal Theatre. From 1988 to 1990 he worked as a freelance actor and director in productions at the Karlsruhe State Theatre, at the Marburg Theatre and at the Bremerhaven Municipal Theatre. In 1989 he became the Director of the Münster Municipal Theatre. Five years later he was nominated Director of the Hessen State Theatre in Wiesbaden. In 2002-2003 he took over as Artistic Director of the Karlsruhe State Theatre.