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Published online by Cambridge University Press: 16 January 2025
Reading the news about theatre in Germany during the past few years, it is hard to avoid the impression that something new is happening: a theatre culture that long emphasized politics now just as often emphasizes ethics. There were the 2022 protests in Munich over claimed anti-Semitism in the play Vögel (Birds of a Kind) by Wajdi Mouawad, which led the Metropoltheater to cancel its planned production. Nicolas Stemann and Benjamin von Blomberg tried to make programming and ensemble changes to the Schauspielhaus Zürich, which they co-led, but the institution's governing board decided not to renew their contracts amid accusations that the theatre had become too “woke” for its audiences. Most prominently, a new artistic team at the prestigious Theatertreffen festival in Berlin curated in 2023 a series of events to coincide with its traditional presentation of the year's ten “most notable” productions. These events included a “Responsibility Treffen” that looked “at how we can show our responsibility toward those who have lost the personal and structural circumstances necessary for working in the theatre.”
The research for this article was conducted with an Alexander-von-Humboldt Fellowship. Special thanks to the peer reviewers, as well as to David Savran and Marc Silberman. Note: All translations are by the author unless otherwise noted.
1 “Metropoltheater München setzt Inszenierung von Vögel ab,” Nachtkritik (18 November 2022), www.nachtkritik.de/meldungen/metropoltheater-muenchen-reagiert-auf-antisemitismusvorwuerfe, accessed 10 July 2023.
2 See Janis El-Bira, “Das Spiel ist aus: Schauspielhaus Zürich beendet Vertrag mit Intendanten-Duo,” Südwestrundfunk (7 February 2023), https://web.archive.org/web/20230216111642/www.swr.de/swr2/buehne/das-spiel-ist-aus-schauspielhaus-zuerich-beendet-den-vertrag-mit-der-intendanz-100.html [archived], accessed 10 July 2023.
3 Theatertreffen 2023, “Über die 10 Treffen,” www.berlinerfestspiele.de/theatertreffen/das-festival/archiv/ueber-die-10-treffen, accessed 10 July 2023.
4 See, for example, Sophiensaele, “Content Notes,” https://sophiensaele.com/de/seite/content-notes, accessed 11 March 2024.
5 Typically “accessibility” is translated “Barrierefreiheit” in German, and “inclusion” is simply “Inklusion.” See, for example, Schauspiel Leipzig, “Inklusion—Barrierefreiheit,” www.schauspiel-leipzig.de/inklusion/barrierefreiheit/; and Schauspiel Leipzig, “Accessibility,” www.schauspiel-leipzig.de/en/inclusion-en/accessibility/, both accessed 11 March 2024.
6 See, for example, the consultant group Diversity Arts Culture, “Wie wir arbeiten,” https://diversity-arts-culture.berlin/diversity-arts-culture/wie-wir-arbeiten, accessed 10 September 2024.
7 Bradley, Laura, “Brecht and Political Theatre,” in Bertolt Brecht in Context, ed. Brockmann, Stephen (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2021), 57–64CrossRefGoogle Scholar, at 63.
8 Barnett, David, A History of the Berliner Ensemble (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2015), 445CrossRefGoogle Scholar.
9 Ibid., 62. See also Barnett's discussion of “Making theatre politically” in Brecht in Practice: Theatre, Theory and Performance (London: Bloomsbury Methuen Drama, 2015), 31–5.
10 Barnett, History of the Berliner Ensemble, 62
11 Barnett, Brecht in Practice, 32.
12 Bradley, “Brecht and Political Theatre,” 60.
13 Ibid.
14 Ibid., 62.
15 Barnett, History of the Berliner Ensemble, 437.
16 Ibid., 25.
17 See, for example, the modelbooks collected in Brecht, Bertolt, Brecht on Performance, ed. Kuhn, Tom, Giles, Steve, and Silberman, Marc, trans. Ryland, Charlotte et al. (London: Bloomsbury Methuen Drama, 2014)Google Scholar.
18 Hunka, George, “A Bookshelf of Brecht,” PAJ: A Journal of Performance and Art 38.2 (2016): 123–8, at 124–5Google Scholar.
19 Brecht, Bertolt, Life of Galileo, trans. Willett, John (London: Bloomsbury Methuen Drama, 2001), 14Google Scholar.
20 Ibid., 20.
21 Wessendorf, Markus, “Brecht's Materialist Ethics between Confucianism and Marxism,” Philosophy East & West 66.1 (2016): 122–45CrossRefGoogle Scholar, at 136.
22 Markus Wessendorf, “Brecht's Ethics,” in Bertolt Brecht in Context, ed. Brockmann, 166–73, at 166.
23 Arribas, Sonia, “The Subject Herr Keuner: Towards a Brechtian Ethics,” in The Brecht Yearbook 35: Brecht/Marxism/Ethics (Madison: University of Wisconsin Press, 2010), ed. Weidauer, Friedemann J., 2–23Google Scholar, at 9; italics in the original.
24 See ibid., 7–9. Marx himself did not write explicitly about ethics, but it is easy to see, drawing broadly on Marx, how ethics, like religion, are a product of historical economic conditions as well as a tool used to oppress the proletariat and keep people from developing class consciousness.
25 Ibid., 9.
26 Wessendorf, “Brecht's Materialist Ethics,” 137.
27 Brecht, Bertolt, The Measures Taken, trans. Mueller, Carl R., in “The Measures Taken” and Other Lehrstücke (London: Eyre Methuen, 1977), 7–34Google Scholar, at 33.
28 Brecht, Bertolt, “To those born after,” in The Collected Poems of Bertolt Brecht, trans. and ed. Kuhn, Tom and Constantine, David (New York: Norton, 2019), 734–6Google Scholar, at 736.
29 Wessendorf, “Brecht's Materialist Ethics,” 129.
30 Quoted in ibid., 135; italics in the original.
31 Brecht, Bertolt, The Caucasian Chalk Circle, trans. McGuinness, Frank (London: Bloomsbury Methuen Drama, 2007), 116Google Scholar.
32 Ridout, Nicholas, Theatre & Ethics (Houndmills, UK: Palgrave Macmillan), 44Google Scholar.
33 Bertolt Brecht, The Good Person of Szechwan, trans. John Willett (London: Methuen Drama, 1985), 109.
34 See Wessendorf, “Brecht's Materialist Ethics,” 137.
35 Wessendorf, “Brecht's Ethics,” 169.
36 Bertolt Brecht, Messingkauf, or Buying Brass, in Brecht on Performance, ed. Kuhn, Giles, and Silberman, 1–141, at 18.
37 Ibid., 19.
38 Bradley, “Brecht and Political Theatre,” 58.
39 Brecht, Messingkauf, 42.
40 Barnett, History of the Berliner Ensemble, 437; italics in the original.
41 Ibid., 445.
42 Ibid., 448.
43 Ibid.
44 Laura Bradley, “Contemporary Theatre? Brecht, Peymann & Co. at the Berliner Ensemble,” Contemporary Theatre Review 18.1 (2008): 69–79, at 74. Quoted in Barnett, History of the Berliner Ensemble, 448.
45 I am following Barnett's argument here, History of the Berliner Ensemble, 448: “In short, the BE is now another major theatre in Berlin that stages Brecht, amongst other playwrights.”
46 Matt Cornish, “Singing in Dark Times: Report from Berlin,” PAJ: A Journal of Performance and Art 44.3 (2022): 3–17.
47 “Hinweise zu sensiblen Inhalten und körperlichen Triggern,” www.berliner-ensemble.de/content-note, accessed 10 July 2023.
48 Amely Haag, dramaturg, in telephone discussion with the author, 28 June 2023; Mona Wahba, leader of Abteilung Einblicke, in Zoom discussion with the author, 4 October 2023.
49 “Das Verhandeln von gesellschaftlichen Konflikten ist diesem Theater eingeschrieben und kann erlebbar machen, dass und wie unsere Wirklichkeit gemacht, hergestellt—und deswegen auch veränderbar ist.” “Hinweise.”
50 “Je nach persönlicher Sensibilisierung können solche Auseinandersetzungen als (zu) schmerzhaft empfunden werden.” Ibid.
51 For examples of BE marketing from the first forty years of its existence, including the first logo by dramaturg and designer Peter Palitzsch, see Die Plakate des Berliner Ensembles 1949–1989, ed. Friedrich Dieckmann and Karl-Heinz Drescher (Hamburg: Europaische Verlagsanstalt, 1992).
52 Deutscher Bühnenverein, Wer spielt was? 2021/22 Werkstatistik Deutschland, Österreich, Schweiz (Köln: Die Deutsche Bühne, 2023), 89. There were additional productions that drew from materials originally written by Brecht, but I am counting only those directly credited to him.
53 Brecht was the sixth most produced playwright; he was ranked seventh for most performances, and sixth for highest audience numbers. Ibid., 80.
54 All of the numbers relating to repertoire and ensemble are taken from my analysis of the Berliner Ensemble website in late June 2022, captured by the Internet Archive: https://web.archive.org/web/20220623130712/https://www.berliner-ensemble.de/, accessed 10 July 2023. The repertoire and ensemble of German public theatres shift through the year, as new productions appear and older or unsuccessful productions are dropped; sometimes old productions will also be brought back into the rep. I decided to choose late June because it was the end of the season, meaning that all new productions for the season had premiered by then. But choosing that late date did mean that a couple of older productions had been dropped from the repertoire, even though they were played during the 2021–2 season.
55 Though all of these directors have worked at other theatres—with Barrie Kosky and Frank Castorf especially known for the styles they developed as the leaders of the Komische Oper Berlin and the Volksbühne am Rosa-Luxemburg-Platz Berlin, respectively—the framing of their productions in the Theater am Schiffbauerdamm and their stagings with members of the BE acting ensemble strongly influences how the productions generate meaning.
56 Notes from the performance on 4 May 2022.
57 Notes from performances on 16 October 2021 and 2 July 2022, as well as an audio recording of a preview available to registered press critics on the Berliner Ensemble website: www.berliner-ensemble.de/downloads, accessed 10 July 2023.
58 Joshua Barone, “Review: The Threepenny Opera Returns Home, Liberated,” New York Times, 15 August 2021, www.nytimes.com/2021/08/15/arts/music/berliner-ensemble-threepenny-review.html, accessed 10 July 2023.
59 Notes from the performance on 22 May 2022.
60 Cornish, “Singing in Dark Times,” 13.
61 Notes from the performance on 20 November 2021, in which the actor Jonathan Kempf was replaced by Andreas Döhler.
62 Notes from the performance on 9 December 2021, as well as an audio recording for registered press critics.
63 Notes from the performance on 22 April 2022, as well as an audio recording for registered press critics.
64 “Hätte es doch nur mehr Momente wie diesen gegeben.” The translation back into English comes from Kane's original text: Sarah Kane, Phaedra's Love, in Complete Plays (London and New York: Bloomsbury Methuen Drama, 2001), 63–103, at 103.
65 Esther Slevogt for one, writing in Nachtkritik, criticized the lack of politicized context in Thalheimer's dehistoricized interpretation of the play. Slevogt, “Wohin sollen wir denn in dieser Welt?” Nachtkritik (26 March 2022), https://nachtkritik.de/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=20793, accessed 10 July 2023.
66 As Daphne Brookes writes: “Simone, in these performances [“Alabama Song” as well as “Pirate Jenny”], draws from the ideological crux of Brecht and Weill's repertoire to craft a poetics of sonic alienation as coruscating socio-political commentary.” Daphne A. Brooks, “Nina Simone's Triple Play,” Callaloo 34.1 (2011): 176–97, at 179.
67 Wessendorf, “Brecht's Ethics,” 169.
68 Brecht, Messingkauf, 69.
69 Notes from the performance on 28 December 2021 and from a video, shared with me by the Berliner Ensemble, of the performance on 18 September 2021.
70 “[Außerdem] bin ich der Meinung, dass immer noch zu wenig Frauen am Theater arbeiten. Ich habe eine Möglichkeit, tollen Künstlerinnen Jobs zu verschaffen.” Quoted in Volker Blech, “Der Einzelne empfindet Ohnmacht,” Berliner Morgenpost (16 September 2021), www.morgenpost.de/kultur/article233343481/Der-Einzelne-empfindet-Ohnmacht.html, accessed 10 July 2023.
71 “Doch. Es gibt jawohl immer noch Sozialhinterlassenen.” Per the BE video of the 18 September 2021 performance.
72 “Wofür kämpft ihr,” Berliner Ensemble (7–8 October 2021), www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLTJ4uSwAt7Kr6qlXq1Pp167Yaabh1EP_p, accessed 10 July 2023.
73 “. . . es geht wirklich um Empowerment.” “Ermächtigt Euch!—Der Soundtrack zur Revolution in Brechts ‘Die Mutter,’” Berliner Ensemble (7 October 2021), www.youtube.com/watch?v=agrQIC04v9s&list=PLTJ4uSwAt7Ko-VkWavCzSxZZ2zRW_zyvb, accessed 10 July 2023.
74 See, for example, the Oxford English Dictionary definition: “empowerment, n.,” OED Online, www.oed.com/search/dictionary/?scope=Entries&q=empowerment, accessed 25 September 2024.
75 “Es ist eine Geschichte der Selbstermächtigung.” Quoted in Blech, “Der Einzelne empfindet Ohnmacht.”
76 Gunnar Decker, “Baustelle Revolution,” Neues Deutschland (22 September 2021), www.nd-aktuell.de/artikel/1156845.berliner-ensemble-baustelle-revolution.html, accessed 10 July 2023.
77 The colloquial word Ballerman denotes both a party beach vacation and the kind of young person who goes on a beach vacation for the parties: “. . . damals im unmittelbaren Schatten des Untergangs des sozialistischen Systems und inmitten einer geschichtsfreien Spaßkultur mit Loveparade und Ballermann-Flugreisen.” Decker, “Baustelle Revolution.”
78 “Die Identitären von rechts und links saugen gerade höchst erfolgreich der Gesellschaft ihr soziales Bewusstsein aus und ersetzen Klasse durch Geschlecht, Nationalgefühl oder andere nebulöse Dinge. Das aber ist, auch wenn es sich selbst für emanzipatorisch halten sollte, zuallererst Ausdruck eines neoliberalen Prinzips.” Ibid.
79 “[W]ir gehören zur Bildung.” Quoted in Blech, “Der Einzelne empfindet Ohnmacht.”
80 “#BEempowered: Wofür kämpfst du?—Regisseurin Christina Tscharyiski,” Berliner Ensemble (7 October 2021), www.youtube.com/watch?v=gmXqZQmzSJw&list=PLTJ4uSwAt7Kr6qlXq1Pp167Yaabh1EP_p&index=1, accessed 10 July 2023.
81 “Dann kommt es zu Formen der Radikalisierung, was eine Gefahr für die Gesellschaft darstellt.” Quoted in Blech, “Der Einzelne empfindet Ohnmacht.”
82 “Ich denke letztendlich Politik kann Theater nicht machen, Politik muss Politiker machen, aber es [Theater] kann ein gesellschaftliches Phänomen sehr ausgestellt zeigen und es kann [. . .] ein aktuelles Thema aufgreifen, sichtbarer machen vielleicht für eine gerechte Welt.” “Ermächtigt Euch!”
83 Christopher Balme, “Postfictional Theatre, Institutional Aesthetics, and the German Theatrical Public Sphere,” TDR 67.2 (2023): 14–31, at 25.
84 Ibid. Balme is citing statistics published originally in Nachtkritik: Ulf Schmidt, “Auf dem Weg zum agilen Theater,” Nachtkritik (25 January 2014), https://nachtkritik.de/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=9072:debatte-um-die-zukunft-des-stadttheaters-viii-ulfschmidts-vortrag-zum-agilen-theater&catid=101&Itemid=84, accessed 10 July 2023.
85 “EINBLICKE wollen Begegnungen schaffen im Theater und durch Theater. . . : Begegnungen von Geschichten, Ästhetiken, Generationen, Sehgewohnheiten, Meinungen, Auffassungen, Humor, Biografien.” “Einblicke: Wer wir sind,” www.berliner-ensemble.de/die-abteilung-einblicke, accessed 10 July 2023.
86 See Kulturvermittlung—zwischen kultureller Bildung und Kulturmarketing: Eine Profession mit Zukunft, ed. Birgit Mandel (Bielefeld: transcript Verlag, 2005).
87 “Ein inszenierter Audioworkshop.” www.berliner-ensemble.de/brechttogo, accessed 10 July 2023.
88 “Wir erforschen inhaltliche Fragen genauso wie künstlerische Formen, lernen Figuren sowie einzelne Themenaspekte genauer kennen.” “Einblicke für Alle” [and click on “Einblicke: Workshop”], https://web.archive.org/web/20230930122912/https:/www.berliner-ensemble.de/einblicke-fuer-alle, accessed 10 July 2023.
89 Mona Wahba, in Zoom discussion with the author, 4 October 2023.
90 Mona Wahba, in email correspondence with the author, 21 October 2024.
91 An independent theatre collective; for this project's concept they credit Alexandra Althoff, Male Günther, Lothar Kittstein, and Bernhard Mikeska. See “Berlau :: Königreich der Geister,” https://raumundzeit.art/portfolio_page/berlau-koenigreich-der-geister/, accessed 10 July 2023.
92 Notes from a performance on 2 June 2022.
93 Tom Kuhn, “Part Two: Modelbooks: Introduction,” in Brecht on Performance, ed. Kuhn, Giles, and Silberman, 143–50, at 144.
94 Wessendorf, “Brecht's Materialist Ethics,” 123.
95 Elaine Scarry, On Beauty and Being Just (Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 2001), 52–3.