RILKE – One Million Words

A timely discussion on connection and language

Actor Ivo Müller is bringing his solo performance of Rilke – One Million Words to Collage on March 14, in celebration of the centenary of Rainer Maria Rilke’s Letters to a Young Poet. Rilke, widely regarded as one of the most important German-language poets, has performed in solo shows like Rilke – One Million Words and Letters to a Young Poet, and appeared in productions including Twelve Angry Men, Huis Clos, Stitching, and works by Pirandello, Strindberg, and Euripides. Müller’s theatrical solo performance connects him in the present with Rilke in the past, reflecting on creation, belonging, mental health, and the need to be present in the world.

Drawing from Rilke’s letters, poems, and excerpts from the Austrian author’s novels,  Müller’s performance follows a writer who, for nearly a year, is unable to write poetry and can only express himself through letters. A present-time actor uses these words to navigate his own conflicts in a place where even his name sounds foreign, calling into question his identity and his relationship with the world around him. Across time and voices, the poet and the actor meet to explore love, the creative process, solitude, a sense of not belonging, and mental health — deeply contemporary themes.

This work was created and performed by Müller, a Brazilian artist with an international trajectory on stage and screen. Arieta Corrêa, directed the stage production, and the English adaptation was co-directed by Darrell Larson. The production combines physical acting, spoken word, elements of shadow theater, and a soundscape that creates an intimate and sensory experience.

Müller’s fascination with Rilke began while he was teaching at a public school in São Paulo, Brazil where he discovered unread copies of Letters to a Young Poet in the school library. He then began using the text in the classroom and, years later, translated and adapted it for the stage.

Random Lengths spoke to Müller who said the story is similar to his own, when he first began acting; the doubts the character has resonated with him. Since that time, he said, many signs have come to him, confirming that he should do this show, like going to a book store and Letters to a Young Poet “would just [appear before] him.” He felt he was meant to do this show.

The result of more than 20 years of artistic research, Rilke – One Million Words began in 2010 with the production Letters to a Young Poet, which toured more than 50 cities across Brazil until 2013, followed by RILKE (2018), commissioned by the Mário de Andrade Library in São Paulo. During the pandemic, Müller performed the show in Portuguese in an online version that reached audiences in several countries, paving the way for the project’s international expansion. This was when he realized how the show speaks about mental health. He recalled getting messages from viewers saying it was like a healing session; people spoke about isolation, but hearing this poetry and seeing the images he created touched them. 

“I understood it,” Müller said, “It is quite obvious when you watch the show, but I didn’t have that notion that the show spoke about mental health. People were suffering and feeling scared about being isolated. They didn’t know what the hell was going to happen next, and people were dying around us.”

In January 2025, the English language version premiered live in New York at Torn Page, the historic former residence of actors Geraldine Page and Rip Torn. Müller noted the development of the play was crazy because he was performing it in his second language.

“It was harder [but] it was a beautiful, delicious challenge, said Müller. I found new things, deeper than what I learned about the play from my first language.”

Letters to a Young Poet is a collection of ten letters by Rainer Maria Rilke to a young aspiring poet, Franz Xaver Kappus, who Müller explained was in the midst of his teenage crisis; he didn’t know what to do with life or how to deal with his first girlfriend. 

“I was fascinated by how contemporary [it] was,” Müller said. “[It] spoke to me when I first read it. That happens to many people who read it.” 

Müller pointed to a video pitch he uses for the show; an image of Lady Gaga and her tattoo of Rilke’s poetry on her arm that touched her in a way that was seminal to being an artist: ‘Confess to yourself in the deepest hour of the night whether you would have to die if you were forbidden to write.’

“[The situation] was the same for me but the only difference was I was teaching acting for teenagers and I [began] to use that in class and then … I decided I wanted to tell the story to more people … it’s one of my missions in life

There will be a post-performance discussion using Rilke’s poetry as a starting point to discuss artistic creation, mental health, and the importance of being rooted in the present. In 2026, the centenary of Rainer Maria Rilke’s death (1875–1926), the production continues its international tour, with a run in California at the Sierra Madre Playhouse, a European premiere at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe, and a return to São Paulo, in celebration of the work of one of the great 20th century poets, through the perspective of a Brazilian artist.

Time: 7:30 to 9 p.m., March 14 

Cost: $20

Details: https://tinyurl.com/One-Million-Words 

Venue: Collage, 731 S Pacific Ave., San Pedro