After his rather unsuccessful venture Caspar Western Friedrich, director Philippe Quesne returns to the Münchner Kammerspiele with a pastoral set in a dystopian future. Humanity has finally succeeded in destroying itself. Only four scarecrows remain on a farm, archivists of the past who run their own radio station.
Courtesy of Martin Argyroglo.
Having recently directed Ryan Trecartin’s The Re’Search and Eugène Labiche’s Trüffel Trüffel Trüffel at the Kammerspiele, Felix Rothenhäusler returns for his adaptation of Lars von Trier‘s apocalyptic film Melancholia (2011).
Courtesy Armin Smailovic
With the rise of the #MeToo movement and angry white men who want to turn back the clock to the good old days of gender inequality, plays discussing the war of the sexes have been produced in theatres all over Germany. Nicolas Stemann, resident director at the Kammerspiele chose August Strindberg‘s first naturalistic play The Father to contribute to this discussion.
Courtesy of Thomas Aurin.
French director Philippe Quesne began his career in the visual arts. After designing sets for theatre, operas and exhibitions for ten years, he created the Vivarium Studio Company in 2003 and directed his first show, La Démangeaison des ailes . Since 2014 he has been Artistic Director of the Théâtre Nanterre-Amandiers in Paris and his productions are frequently invited to international festivals. Caspar Western Friedrich is his first production at the Kammerspiele.
Courtesy of Martin Argyroglo.
It seems that, despite the ongoing criticism, the Münchner Kammerspiele are doing something right. Two of their recent productions are invited to the 55th Berliner Theatertreffen – Trommeln in der Nacht by Bertolt Brecht, directed by Christopher Rüping, and Mittelreich with an all-black cast, based on the novel by Josef Bierbichler and the production by Anna-Sophie Mahler, directed by Anta Helena Recke. Only ten outstanding productions from theatres all over Germany are chosen every year. (Reviews of both productions can be found on this website.)
Courtesy of Thomas Aurin.
In his comic triptych Hot Pepper, Air Conditioner and The Farewell Speech, the Japanese director and playwright Toshiki Okada examines office life in contemporary Japan and explores the relationship between temp workers and full-time workers in the declining Japanese economy.
Courtesy of Julian Baumann.
The continuing success of right-wing populist parties and Trump’s presidency are worrying at best. Many people feel powerless, hoping that this situation will soon pass. Lion Feuchtwanger contemplated very similar problems in his trilogy Wartesaal (Waiting Room), which he wrote between 1930 and 1939. Feuchtwanger ‘s observations of national socialism in the 1930s were almost visionary and already entailed a theory of swarm intelligence, decades before this phenomenon was actually described.
Courtesy of Arno Declair.
Hungarian born director David Marton started out as a musician for stage directors like Frank Castorf and Christoph Marthaler before developing projects of his own. Moving freely between theatre and opera, Marton’s production His Fairy Queen, oder hätte ich Glenn Gould nicht kennen gelernt (The Fairy-Queen, or hadn’t I met Glenn Gould), after Henry Purcell, was invited to the Zurich Theater Spektakel festival in 2006 and the Impulse festival in 2007. In 2009, the theatre magazine Die Deutsche Bühne chose David Marton as Opera Director of the Year for his production Don Giovanni. Keine Pause (Don Giovanni. No Break). In 2015/16 David Marton founded the Opera House of the Kammerspiele and directed La Sonnambula and Figaros Hochzeit.
