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“A Total Kindergarten”: A Conversation about Chris Dercon's Volksbühne

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  25 April 2018

René Pollesch  and
Michael Shane Boyle
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Extract

The decision to appoint Chris Dercon, director of the Tate Modern, as Frank Castorf's successor at the Volksbühne prompted an exodus of the theatre's core artistic ensemble. Chief among those who refused to stay on with Dercon at the helm was the prodigious writer and director René Pollesch.

Type
Volksbühne Special Section
Information
Theatre Survey , Volume 59 , Issue 2 , May 2018 , pp. 282 - 285
Copyright
Copyright © American Society for Theatre Research 2018 

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References

Endnotes

1. In 2017 Oliver Reese succeeded Claus Peymann as Intendant of the Berliner Ensemble. In the lead-up to his first season, Reese publicly declared a new direction for the theatre, which would be oriented to producing new plays by living authors.

2. Atop the Volksbühne for much of Castorf's tenure were neon letters spelling out “OST”—the German for “east.” The sign was a reminder to passersby that the theatre was located in the former communist sector of East Berlin. In the mid-1990s, the Volksbühne installed the metal sculpture that would become its iconic symbol: the Räuberrad (Robber's Wheel). Designed by the Volksbühne's Bert Neumann, the Räuberrad was a four-meter-high wheel with legs that stood on the lawn in front of the Volksbühne. Before leaving the theatre in 2017, Castorf had both the “OST” sign and the Räuberrad removed.

3. Tim Renner was Berlin's Secretary for Cultural Affairs during 2014–16. He is seen as primarily responsible for the decision to appoint Chris Dercon as the new Intendant of the Volksbühne.

4. Bert Neumann was an artist and the lead designer at the Volksbühne until his death in 2015. Bettina Masuch was a dramaturg at the Volksbühne. She attended the Applied Theatre Arts program at the University of Giessen, which is where Pollesch also studied, under, among others, Hans-Thies Lehmann.

5. Susanne Kennedy and Walter Asmus are two directors who have productions running in Dercon's first season.