Little did I know when attending the press conference in June, that the Münchner Kammerspiele would be voted “Theatre of the Year 2019” by the critics of the highly esteemed theatre magazine “Theater heute” only two months later. “Theater heute” also chose the impressive 10-hour production Dionysos Stadt by Christopher Rüping as “Production of the Year”and Nils Kahnwald as “Actor of the Year” for the same production. Best newcomer awards went to Kammerspiele ensemble members Gro Swantje Kohlhof and Benjamin Radjaipour. Lena Newton‘s stage design for Susanne Kennedy’s adaptation of Three Sisters was also considered the year’s best work. A triumph for Artistic Director Matthias Lilienthal who presented his final season at the Kammerspiele.
The new season will begin in the end of September, featuring three premieres on three consecutive days. The opening production on 26th September will be a world premiere: Kränkungen der Menschheit (Insults to Humanity) by Anta Helena Recke, who was awarded “Young Artist of the Year” by “Theater heute” in 2018. Recke’s play challenges the Eurocentric assertion of a universal history of humanity and art. Sigmund Freud described three “insults to humanity” in his essay “A Difficulty in the Path of Psycho-Analysis”: The realisation that we are not the centre of the universe (Copernicus), that we are descended from apes (Darwin), and have a subconscious that we cannot control (Freud). Recke adds a fourth insult: There is not just one human race.
The second world premiere These Teens Will Save The Future by Verena Regensburger will be performed at Haus der Kunst from 27th September. Focusing on the “Fridays for Future” movement, Regensburger has interviewed young people between the ages of 15 and 21 in Munich.
Stefan Pucher‘s King Lear will premiere on 28th September. Using Thomas Melle‘s modern translation and featuring Thomas Schmauser in the title role, Pucher’s production is meant as a parable on the current emancipatory movement, as old white men are forced to surrender their power to younger generations and diverse structures.
Directed by actor and singer Damian Rebgetz, Nirvana’s Last deals with the final concert of grunge band Nirvana. The concert took place in Terminal 1 of the former Munich airport, which was then used as a cultural venue. Pianist and composer Paul Hankinson and Damian Rebgetz juxtapose the German tradition of the Kunstlied with the songs Nirvana performed last in Munich.
René Pollesch returns to the Kammerspiele to direct Passing – It’s So Easy, was schwer zu machen ist featuring the Syrian Open Border Ensemble. Felix Rothenhäusler will present the world premiere of a play by Enis Maci. In WUNDER Maci examines the human body: its wounds and miracles, martyrdom and self-optimisation. Japanese director Toshiki Okada explores the trend of middle-aged adults still living with their ageing parents in Japan in The Vacuum Cleaner.
One of Europe’s leading choreographers, Marlene Monteiro Freitas, returns to the Kammerspiele after Of Ivory and Flesh and Bacantes, to examine the roots of evil in Le Mal. Looking at the ancient gods and works by Hieronymus Bosch, de Sadeand Jean Genet, is evil the force that determines action?
Christopher Rüping returns to his Brecht passion by directing Bertolt Brecht‘s unsuccessful early work Dickicht der Städte (In the Jungle of Cities), a play structured like a boxing match, a fight for the sheer fun of it. Two men put their lives on the line and realise too late that their fight is not against each other but against the endless isolation of human beings.
Susanne Kennedy and Markus Selg will explore the transformative power of paradoxes with the help of artificial intelligence in ORACLE. Is it possible for us to achieve insight or does this goal remain unattainable?
Leonie Böhm of Yung Faust, presented at the “Radikal Jung Festival”, will be directing a new all-female adaptation of Friedrich Schiller‘s play The Robbers featuring only four characters who represent four different positions. Böhm explores what is stopping us from living freely whilst working towards a social utopia.
Matthias Lilienthal will leave Munich with a bang: Olympia 2666 – a 24-hour performance based on Roberto Bolaño‘s novel and directed by Ligia Lewis, Toshiki Okada, Christopher Rüping, Mariana Villegas et al. Leaving at 12:00pm on Saturday, a bus will take the audience to different and unusual locations in Munich, chosen by the architecture collective “raumlaborberlin“, starting off in the Olympic Park.
Once again, the Kammerspiele present a season with work that focuses on highly relevant subjects.
Written by Carolin Kopplin.
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