NZZ, Andreas Klaeui, 12.10.2012

"A dense, attentive, very precisely observed piece of theater (...) Sabine Auf der Heyde clearly emphasizes the tragic compulsion, the state reasoning which appears with the most relaxed cynicism, the institutional imprisonment of the queens”, with almost brutal clarity. She is also able to create extremely powerful visual moments, such as Leicester's dance with Elisabeth. Within a few minutes, a choreographic short story develops from a lascivious attempt to walk to rocking rebellion to agonizing resignation, “a tragic desire for and not being able to escape the dungeon in which Elisabeth finds herself (...) This is always very close to Schiller, but at the same time it is the view of a young woman searching for her own truths. She finds them in the depths of the text by listening seriously, wanting to understand exactly what it says. What does it mean, how far does it go - Schiller's words are given fresh tension and new resonance in this questioning.

Every word is coherent, every sentence casts a new light on the whole, brings forth a new doubt or a new twist. Every seemingly gained certainty loses its foundation again with the following statement. It is a breathtaking interplay of conflicts; the Lucerne ensemble, above all Juliane Lang as a multifaceted Maria in conflict with herself, masters it ravishingly."

Nachtkritik, Charles Linsmayer, 10.10.2012

"From the very beginning, the music plays an important role in this production: it sets the rhythm, uses electronic sounds and distorted voices to indicate menace and drama and, together with the lighting effects that eerily divide the action into light and dark at key moments, conveys something dissonant, unholy and frightening to the immaculate verses in which the tragedy unfolds. The stage design is also in a similar vein, initially not a stage design at all, but simply turns the bare stage house with all its technical equipment into a playing space. But then, as the drama comes to a head, a wooden wall rises into the air and delineates a narrow playing area until its parts unite to form a black cube that is a threatening backdrop and prison in one. (...)

The fact that Sabine Auf der Heyde has worked intensively with the participants is demonstrated not only by the fluid, beautifully balanced flow of the three entertaining hours and the gradual escalation towards the tragic conclusion, but also by the consistently clear, confident articulation of the verses, which never takes on a stylized quality and ultimately has the effect of making the production not only an example of an updated “sensualization” of a classic, but also a homage to Schiller's language.”