Kohlhaas
Directed by Omar Elerian | Performed by Arinzé Kene
‘If a man can break the circle of the world for just two horses, then it means that that circle can be broken at any moment...’
The first ever Brighton Festival Production, and a world premiere, Kohlhaas has been developed specifically for the refurbished Brighton Dome Corn Exchange. A bold adaptation of Heinrich von Kleist’s novella Michael Kohlhaas, it asks what happens when justice fails, and one man refuses to let it go?
Performed by the critically acclaimed Arinzé Kene (Misty, Girl From The North Country, Get Up Stand Up), Kohlhaas tells the story of a 16th century German horse dealer who seeks redress after a local Baron tricks him out of his two most beautiful horses.
When met with corruption and indifference, a principled demand for fairness spirals into an uncompromising quest for justice, with violent and far-reaching consequences.
Translated and directed by Omar Elerian (Misty, The Chairs, Rhinoceros), and adapted by the pioneering Italian playwrights, Marco Baliani and Remo Rostagno, Kohlhaas reunites Elerian and Kene in their first one-man show since the Olivier-Award nominated Misty.
Urgent, unsettling and fiercely contemporary, Kohlhaas is an atmospheric, brooding journey into the psychology of protest and resistance, asking what does justice really look like when systems are broken, and rights are denied – and how far is too far?
‘Kleist’s tale about the consequences of injustice will never not be relevant and is so thrilling that once I started reading it, I couldn’t stop for anything. Stunning’ - Ali Smith (The Guardian, Dec 2025)
Go Behind the Scenes
Credits
Italian adaptation from the original novella by Marco Baliani and Remo Rostagno
English translation by Omar Elerian
Directed by Omar Elerian
Lighting and Smoke Effects Design by Jackie Shemesh (Lost Dog)
Installation and Costume Design by Ana Inés Jabares-Pita
Composition and Sound Design by Matthew Herbert
Performed by Arinzé Kene MBE (Winner of Best Male Actor in a Play at the Black British Theatre Awards for Misty)
Adapted from the original novella Michael Kohlhaas (1808) by Heinrich von Kleist
Supported by Louise & Jamie Arnell
Cast
Arinzé Kene
Theatre credits include: Bengal Tiger at the Baghdad Zoo, Death of a Salesman, Been So Long (Young Vic); Get Up Stand Up (West End); Misty (Bush/West End); Alterations (National Theatre); One Night in Miami (Donmar); Girl from the North Country (The Old Vic/ West End); Lion King (West End)
Film credits include: Harvest; Lee; Love Again; Tuesday; Ear for Eye; I’m Your Woman; Lola; How to Build a Girl; Been so Long; The Pass; Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them; Freestyle
Television credits include: I am... Hannah; The Long Song; Informer; King Lear; Crazyhead; Our Girl; Youngers; Eastenders; Casualty
Creative Team
Director: Omar Elerian
Omar Elerian is a freelance director, dramaturg, and theatre-maker. Italian of Palestinian descent, Elerian trained in Italy and then graduated from Lecoq International Theatre School in Paris in 2005. He was the resident associate director at London’s Bush Theatre from 2012 to 2019 where he commissioned and directed some of the theatre’s most successful shows.
His directing credits include the smash-hit Misty by Arinzé Kene (Bush Theatre, West End and New York), NASSIM by Nassim Soleimanpour (Bush Theatre, Traverse Theatre, and world tour), Going Through by Estelle Savasta, and Islands by Caroline Horton. His most recent directing credits include Nowhere by Khalid Abdalla (FUEL/BAC/tour) The Chairs and Rhinoceros by Eugene Ionesco (Almeida Theatre); Two Palestinians Go Dogging by Sami Ibrahim (Royal Court), As You Like It (Royal Shakespeare Company), ECHO by Nassim Soleimanpour (LIFT/Royal Court/tour) and Bengal Tiger at the Baghdad Zoo by Rajiv Joseph (Young Vic).
Lighting and Smoke Effects Design: Jackie Shemesh
Jackie Shemesh is a lighting designer for Theatre, Dance and Opera.
Theatre credits include: Bengal Tiger at the Baghdad Zoo, Changing Destiny, In the Penal Colony, A Face in the Crowd, Oh my Sweet Land (Young Vic); Interview (Riverside Studios); Rhinoceros,The Chairs, Uncle Vanya, Mary Stuart (also Duke of York’s) (Almeida); Nowhere ( Fuel, BAC & HOME) Death of England: Trilogy (also @sohoplace), Hansard (National); Ben & Imo, As You Like It (RSC); Pandemonium ( Soho Theatre); Two Palestinians Go Dogging, ECHO (Royal Court); The Seagull (Playhouse); The Beloved, Islands, Misty (also Trafalgar Studios, Bush Theatre, Shed NYC); What if Women Ruled the World, Ceremony (Manchester International Festival); White Noise (Bridge Theatre)
Dance credits include: Juliet & Romeo (Lost Dog Dance Company);Venus 2.0 (Impermancene); Ruination (ROH & Venice Bienalle); Goat, Cerberus, Death trap (Rambert Dance); The Ways, The Fortune, The Fall, Continual Cry (Jamila Jonson-small); Picnic, White Hare, Run Mary Run, 8 MIN (Sadler’s Wells); Beheld, Hot Mess, Let’s Talk About Dis (Candoco Dance); The Murmuring, Young Men (Ballet Boyz)
Opera credits include: Orpheus (Opera North); Ulysses (Grange); Violet (Aldeburgh Festival)
Composition and Sound Design: Matthew Herbert
Matthew has made music from the complete life of a single pig, a bomb exploding in Libya, an orgasm, a town in Poland, a nightclub full of people, someone swimming the English Channel, a tank driving over a meal made for Tony Blair, 20,000 dogs, the sewers beneath Fleet Street, 245 shops in a shopping centre, a horse skeleton and countless thousands of other noises.
He sometimes uses these kinds of sounds in his scores for Oscar-winning films, award-winning television shows, plays, radio shows, opera and games. He has done a project with 1000 musicians and singers across Europe and toured the world both as a performer and as a DJ. He cut his teeth in dance music and has produced some inventive and influential music for clubs.
Matthew has a PhD in working with sound in music and has published a book called The Music, which is a description of an album he’ll never make.
Theatre work includes People, Places and Things and Edgar and Annabel (both National Theatre); Titus Andronicus (RSC); Machinal and Top Girls (Broadway); Drunk Enough to Say I Love You and Gundog (Royal Court)
**Stage timings are subject to change
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