Thüringische Landeszeitung, Wolfgang Hirsch, 23.1.2012

“What a world drama: 375 pages of text, 97 scenes and at least six hours long, Tankred Dorst's “Merlin oder Das wüste Land” links the mythological primeval times of the Arthurian legend with human history up to the present day.

Because such a tour de force no longer seems reasonable for today's theatre-goers in a hurry, director Sabine Auf der Heyde and dramaturge Jürgen Otten have halved the boundless puzzle of scenes for the DNT Weimar - with the risk of the political message of the brilliant play becoming unrecognizable. But at the premiere on Saturday, the brave warriors of both sexes on stage literally fought blood, sweat and soul out of their bodies. (...)

Auf der Heyde's skirmish offers plenty of eroticism and perfidy, comedy and brutal combat. The hearty jealousy with which Ginevra (Caroline Dietrich) and Elaine (Nina Mariel Kohler) bicker over the helpless Lancelot makes this production worth seeing. You can laugh and giggle, be disgusted and annoyed. Songs and prose sequences narrated from the ramp break up the play and emphasize the demonstrative character of the open dramatic form, as do the changes of costumes and masks on the open stage. The two-man combo of Jacob Suske and Christian Kohlhaas with their arsenal of percussion, plucking and wind instruments lends subtly rhythmic action or poetic swell or rapid drive, depending on what the scenes call for.