<a href="${link:{uuid:{d31fce8d-f964-4520-a8ce-a2a51c34e489},repository:{website},path:{/bfs-de/theatertreffen/das-festival/ueber-die-10-inszenierungen}}}">The ten most remarkable productions</a> from the last season were selected by a <a href="${link:{uuid:{1c495102-7d10-43fc-b87c-f22293697438},repository:{website},path:{/bfs-de/theatertreffen/das-festival/ueber-die-10-inszenierungen/jurys/jury-2025}}}">jury of critics</a> to provide a condensed insight into the German-language theatre landscape.

Highlights Musikfest Berlin 2023

Musikfest Berlin

Musikfest Berlin 2023

Theatertreffen

38 productions were suggested and discussed for nomination for the 2025 Theatertreffen by the jury members.

The 2025 Shortlisted Productions

Between 18 January 2024 and 16 January 2025, the Theatertreffen-jury viewed a total of 738 productions from Germany, Austria and Switzerland.&nbsp;

Statistics

By Alice Birch based on Federico García Lorca Translation by Ulrike SyhaDirector: Katie Mitchell German-language premiere: 2.11.2024 Deutsches SchauSpielHaus Hamburg <a href="https://schauspielhaus.de/stuecke/bernarda-albas-haus">schauspielhaus.de</a><h4>Statement of the Jury</h4>Bernarda Alba is merciless and so is Katie Mitchell’s staging of the play. Their father has barely been buried when Bernarda Alba locks her five daughters up. She isolates them from the world and its desires and hunger for life. This was how the Spanish author Federico García Lorca wrote the play in 1936. British dramatist Alice Birch has created an edgy new version of his tragedy, staged by Mitchell as a hermetic nightmare. Inside a prison-like house on stage designed by Alex Eales, eleven extremely precise actors talk about both patriarchal rule and domestic matriarchy, about superstition, jealousy, abuse and pain. Precisely timed parallel montages, dovetailed dialogues and accurately choreographed slow-motion scenes render this show into a sublime artistic synthesis that challenges the senses. A spectacular production and a harrowing parable on the interrelation between oppression, power and violence.<a href="https://mediathek.berlinerfestspiele.de/en/theatertreffen/2025/statement-bernarda-albas-haus">To juror Katrin Ullmann’s video statement on “Bernarda Albas Haus” (in German)</a>

Bernarda Albas Haus

Opera performance by Florentina Holzinger, featuring Paul Hindemith’s opera “Sancta Susanna”, spiritual works and new compositions by Johanna Doderer, Born in Flamez, Stefan Schneider et al. &nbsp;Director, choreographer and performance: Florentina Holzinger Premiere: 30.5.2024 (Mecklenburgisches Staatstheater) A production by Florentina Holzinger/Spirit, neon lobster, Mecklenburgisches Staatstheater and Staatsoper Stuttgart in co-production with Wiener Festwochen | Freie Republik Wien and Volksb&uuml;hne am Rosa-Luxemburg-Platz (in co-operation with Komische Oper Berlin), Opera Ballet Vlaanderen, Julidans and Theater Rotterdam. Funded by the German Federal Cultural Foundation. Funded by the Federal Government Commissioner for Culture and the Media, Ammodo, and the City of Vienna’s Department for Cultural Affairs. <a href="https://www.mecklenburgisches-staatstheater.de/programm/sancta.html">mecklenburgisches-staatstheater.de</a>&nbsp;|&nbsp;<a href="https://www.staatsoper-stuttgart.de/en/schedule/a-z/sancta/">staatstheater-stuttgart.de</a>&nbsp;|&nbsp;<a href="https://www.volksbuehne.berlin/#/en/repertoire/sancta" target="_blank" title="Zur Website der Volksb&uuml;hne am Rosa-Luxemburg-Platz">volksbuehne.berlin</a><h4>Statement of the Jury</h4>Isn’t there a little bit of sorcery in every mass? Don’t they turn bread into flesh, wine into blood? Florentina Holzinger uses Paul Hindemith’s short opera “Sancta Susanna” about a nun’s experience of sexual awakening as the launching pad for her captivating version of a Catholic service. The show’s basic contrast is set forth right at the start, with two fisting women between a cross and a bouldering wall: In the opera, it is the church’s insignia of sacrifice, guilt and authority, in Holzinger’s physical reading, it is uninhibited sex, transgression and shamelessness. Her queer-feminist company overwrites sacred images and interprets biblical scenes as visceral borderline experiences. While half-naked nuns skate a halfpipe, there is a rotating female pope, a magician performs miracles and a vagrant called Jesus accosts the audience. The transubstantiation is also executed quite literally as a variety of body suspension. But ultimately, this orgy of intercourse wants to be more than kink and provocation: It holds out its hands to the audience with the message “Don’t dream it, be it!”<a href="https://mediathek.berlinerfestspiele.de/en/theatertreffen/2025/statement-sancta">To juror Eva Behrendt’s video statement on “SANCTA” (in German)</a>

SANCTA

A virtual ruinscape

Performative installation in virtual reality by DARUMDirection and story: Victoria Halper &amp; Kai Kr&ouml;sche (DARUM) World premiere: 26.9.2024 (brut Wien) A co-production of DARUM and brut Wien Funded by the City of Vienna’s Department of Cultural Affairs (MA7) and the Federal Ministry of Arts, Culture, Civil Service and Sport <a href="https://www.darum.at/">darum.at</a>&nbsp;|&nbsp;<a href="https://brut-wien.at/en">brut-wien.at</a><h4>Statement of the Jury</h4>Virtual reality has arrived in the theatre, even if both are still often wary of each other. This VR-experience by the duo DARUM (Victoria Halper and Kai Kr&ouml;sche) looks at virtual worlds, and more specifically at the remnants of our daily interactions in the web: Memories of ephemera that never fade. How many of these data heaps can the net endure? Do we have any kind of responsibility for them? Could we even – love them? When audience members put on a pair of VR-goggles, they receive an area of 9.6m². The company IRL (Imaginary Reality Landscapes) then asks them to check virtual ruins that have not been accessed for a long time. The task is to decide what should be permanently deleted and what is to be absorbed into the metaverse. But then, the virtual realm takes the examiners hostage, and a deeply moving story unfolds; a story that tests our relationship with digital legacies and sets new standards of virtual storytelling. Is this still theatre or is it theatre yet?<a href="https://mediathek.berlinerfestspiele.de/en/theatertreffen/2025/statement-eol-end-of-life">To juror Martin Thomas Pesl’s video statement on “[EOL]. End of Life” (in German)</a>

[EOL]. End of Life

By Sam Max German translation by Wilke WeermannDirector: Ersan Mondtag Premiere: 29.9.2024 Hessisches Staatstheater Wiesbaden <a href="https://www.staatstheater-wiesbaden.de/spielplan/premieren/double-serpent/">staatstheater-wiesbaden.de</a><h4>Statement of the Jury</h4>This play fits Ersan Mondtag’s nightmarish theatre language like a glove. In the text by dramatist Sam Max from New York, meaning is assembled like a puzzle where all the pieces find their places only at the end. Mondtag’s staging is peopled by stylised, artificial characters whose shells break open bit by bit. Biographical facts come to light, levels of time and reality become more relatable. The balance of power, on the other hand, appears more and more obscure. What are we watching in Alexander Naumann’s fantasy-art noveau set? Is it a consensual gay BDSM-relationship or sexual abuse? Young Connor is at the centre of fascinating loops of light, sound and slow motion, where violence is ever present – even though it is never displayed, not even in Luis August Krawen’s computer-animated videos. This is no show for voyeurs: Instead, this artistic synthesis is disturbing in a unique, almost ceremonial manner, and it develops a hypnotic slipstream.<a href="https://mediathek.berlinerfestspiele.de/en/theatertreffen/2025/statement-double-serpent">To juror Sabine Leucht’s video statement on “Double Serpent” (in German)</a>

Double Serpent

An encounter with Pina Bausch’s piece “Kontakthof” (1978)Conceived and directed by Meryl Tankard World premiere: 26.11.2024 (Opernhaus Wuppertal) A production of Sadler’s Wells, Pina Bausch Foundation and Tanztheater Wuppertal Pina Bausch. Co-produced with Amare (The Hague), LAC Lugano Arte e Cultura, Festspielhaus St. P&ouml;lten, Seongnam Arts Center and China Shanghai International Arts Festival and supported as a contribution to the preparation of the Pina Bausch Centre with funds from the Federal Government Commissioner for Culture and the Media, the Ministry of Culture and Science of the State of North Rhine-Westphalia and the City of Wuppertal. <a href="https://www.pinabausch.org/en/post/kontakthof-echoes-of-78">pinabausch.org</a><h4>Statement of the Jury</h4>Pina Bausch’s 1978 piece “Kontakthof” is one of the legendary, almost cultishly worshipped works with which she revolutionised dance theatre in those days. In the face of this overwhelming background, Meryl Tankard’s appropriation, created 46 years later, at first glance might seem to be a work that aims to memorialise Pina Bausch. This impression, however, is misleading. Tankard was among the original “Kontakthof”-ensemble in 1978 and now dances parts of the initial choreography with eight other members of the former company. She combines excerpts of historic “Kontakthof”-recordings with the movements of the aged dancers. What emerges is a complex and magical dialogue between past and present that consistently defies all classification.<a href="https://mediathek.berlinerfestspiele.de/en/theatertreffen/2025/statement-kontakthof-echoes-of-78">To juror Sascha Westphal’s video statement on “Kontakthof – Echoes of ’78” (in German)</a>

Kontakthof – Echoes of ’78

By Georges Perec and Johann Wolfgang von Goethe Translation by Eugen HelmléDirector: Anita Vulesica World premiere: 12.10.2024 Deutsches SchauSpielHaus Hamburg <a href="https://schauspielhaus.de/stuecke/die-maschine-oder-ueber-allen-gipfeln-ist-ruh">schauspielhaus.de</a>&nbsp;<h4>Statement of the Jury</h4>“Wandrers Nachtlied”: French author Georges Perec (1936 – 1982) used Johann Wolfgang von Goethe’s probably most famous poem as the basis for his 1968 radio play “Die Maschine” (The Machine). Here it is electrical circuitry rather than human beings who communicate, and an authority called “control” disassembles the text into its individual components. Four human “storage devices” proceed to collate its metrical feet, reverse nouns and swallow letters. Anita Vulesica stages Perec’s linguistic experiment with a cast of six virtuoso performers who play with a kind of feverish zest. The director follows the author’s attempt at systematizing the world and yet she also demonstrates that within the fragility of words, there is a kind of magic that defies all definition. What emerges is a show full of dancing syllables, dealing with language as material, but also with power and resistance and with silence as a political force. An absurd pleasure, woven through with pauses of a weightless stillness. Funny, serious, trashy and, on occasion, pausing quietly o’er all the hilltops.<a href="https://mediathek.berlinerfestspiele.de/en/theatertreffen/2025/statement-die-maschine-oder-ueber-allen-gipfeln-ist-ruh">To juror Katrin Ullmann’s video statement on “Die Maschine oder: &Uuml;ber allen Gipfeln ist Ruh” (in German)</a>

Die Maschine oder: &Uuml;ber allen Gipfeln ist Ruh

Novel by Kim de l’Horizon In a version by Jan FriedrichDirector and costume designer: Jan Friedrich Premiere: 27.1.2024 Theater Magdeburg <a href="https://www.theater-magdeburg.de/inszenierungen/schauspiel/sz-20242025/wiederaufnahmen-2425/blutbuch/">theater-magdeburg.de</a><h4>Statement of the Jury</h4>With great urgency, Jan Friedrich and his team bring Kim de l’Horizon’s queer liberation story to the stage. This becomes evident in every poetically delicate, funny, fairytale-and-popculture-like and brutal detail of this multi-media production. It takes the award-winning novel at its word and yet creates a world entirely of its own. The production of “Blutbuch” from Magdeburg finds astonishing images for every chapter, every literary tone and every emotion, without ever losing track of the narrative. This balancing act is achieved because the seven fantastic performers form a personal connection with this relentless questioning of self and society, and with the strong yearning for belonging felt by all the multiple Kims in the novel and onstage. It is a show about non-binary identities which proposes a variant of non-binary storytelling. And about trauma, pain and prejudices that we all inherit from our ancestors. It has powerful imagery, a fighting spirit and releases happiness hormones.<a href="https://mediathek.berlinerfestspiele.de/en/theatertreffen/2025/statement-blutbuch">To juror Sabine Leucht’s video statement on “Blutbuch” (in German)</a>

Blutbuch

By Bertolt Brecht /&nbsp;a sequel by Bj&ouml;rn SC Deigner (commissioned work)Director: Luise Voigt World premiere: 14.12.2024 Residenztheater (Bayerisches Staatsschauspiel) <a href="https://www.residenztheater.de/en/stuecke/detail/senora-carrars-rifles-choking-lead">residenztheater.de</a><h4>Statement of the Jury</h4>Do weapons bring about peace or just more war? Bertolt Brecht’s “Die Gewehre der Frau Carrar” (Señora Carrar’s Rifles), first staged by German refugees in Paris in 1937, is the play of the hour. Mrs Carrar wants to save her sons’ lives and therefore initially takes a rigorous pacifist stance. This rarely performed play about the Spanish civil war hits home like a hammer today. Luise Voigt stages it in the aesthetics of a 1930s movie: The set shimmers, the sound rustles and crackles and the landscape outside the window appears as expressionistic as a paper cut-out. Afterwards, Bj&ouml;rn SC Deigner’s “W&uuml;rgendes Blei” (Choking Lead) begins on the ruins of the past – as a piece for Mrs Carrar, a linden leaf, a machine gun and a chorus, as a religious service for the return of the ever identical horrors of war. How to escape this vicious circle?<a href="https://mediathek.berlinerfestspiele.de/en/theatertreffen/2025/statement-die-gewehre-der-frau-carrar-wuergendes-blei">To juror Valeria Heintges’ video statement on “Die Gewehre der Frau Carrar / W&uuml;rgendes Blei” (in German)</a>

Die Gewehre der Frau Carrar / W&uuml;rgendes Blei

By Pollesch/Hinrichs Text: René Pollesch World premiere: 11.2.2024 Volksb&uuml;hne am Rosa-Luxemburg-Platz <a href="https://www.volksbuehne.berlin/#/en/repertoire/ja-nichts-ist-ok" target="_blank" title="Zur Website des Deutschen SchauSpielHauses Hamburg">volksbuehne.berlin</a><h4>Statement of the Jury</h4>The saddest show of the past year, a sudden severance and a legacy: René Pollesch’s untimely death can no longer be separated from this, his final work. But even regardless of its grievous circumstances, “ja nichts ist ok” is a culmination of the longstanding, close co-operation with his ally Fabian Hinrichs. In a shared flat with none of the other residents present, Hinrichs literally acts himself to pieces, while images of war are flickering across TV-screens. “Is it a crime to be cheerful?” he asks at one point, and in moments like these, the irresolvable contradictions of our time appear to crystallise in a manner that is seldom seen in the theatre. A hyper-reflected world-weariness expands towards the edges of the absurd. Finally, the protagonist, and with him the author and his text, are buried underneath the warm bodies of extras. Just an end, and yet a farewell made of embraces.<a href="https://mediathek.berlinerfestspiele.de/en/theatertreffen/2025/statement-ja-nichts-ist-ok">To juror Janis El-Bira’s video statement on “ja nichts ist ok” (in German)</a>

ja nichts ist ok

Based on the novel by Dinçer G&uuml;çyeter In an adaptation by Hakan Savaş MicanDirector: Hakan Savaş Mican World premiere: 6.4.2024 Maxim Gorki Theater <a href="https://www.gorki.de/en/unser-deutschlandmarchen" target="_blank" title="Zur Website der M&uuml;nchner Kammerspiele">gorki.de</a><h4>Statement of the Jury</h4>Did Fatma ever have a chance to dance, to float along in high heels, to enjoy sex? Or was her entire lifetime spent as a “silent wife, devoted mother, functioning factory worker”? Right at the start of the show, Dinçer grieves for the side of his mother that she could not live. Hakan Savaş Mican, who has repeatedly explored generational conflicts among Turkish migrants and their long-untold biographies, has adapted Dinçer G&uuml;çyeter’s auto-fictional debut novel, creating an equally sensitive and dignified mother-son-portrait for two exceptional actors: Sesede Terziyan as the mother who is perpetually humiliated and grows hard in her perseverance, and Taner Şahint&uuml;rk as the son who subverts her expectations by becoming an artist. They both fill their characters with zest for life and ready wit, giving these two people who have stayed close in spite of all their estrangement a dry sense of humour and tear-wrenching ardency. The live band, led by Peer Neumann and cleverly integrated into the events on stage, contribute songs ranging from Sezen Aksu to Sisters of Mercy and help the characters to overcome their silence.<a href="https://mediathek.berlinerfestspiele.de/en/theatertreffen/2025/statement-unser-deutschlandmaerchen">To juror Eva Behrendt’s video statement on “Unser Deutschlandm&auml;rchen” (in German)</a>

Unser Deutschlandm&auml;rchen

Past Events

Between 18 January 2024 and 16 January 2025, XXX productions from XX cities were viewed either in person or online. XXXX votes were submitted and a total of XX productions were suggested and discussed for nomination for the 2025 Theatertreffen.

Die 10 bemerkenswertesten Inszenierungen 2025

The 10 Productions

The 10 Most Remarkable Productions 2025

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Every year, the Theatertreffen brings the 10 most remarkable productions from German-speaking countries and works by up-and-coming artists from around the world to Berlin.

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The 2025 Open Call

This Open Call for the International Forum is addressed at artists at the beginning of their artistic practice who have already gathered some initial professional experience. They may be from all sectors of the performing arts, especially from the fields of directing, acting, set and costume design, dramaturgy, text production, music, video, performance, media, choreography, production management and theatre education.Around 35 artists from around the world will be invited to come to Berlin, to watch theatre together, to talk, to (re-)consider, to experiment and to make connections. The fellows will have the opportunity to attend the festival, to take part in intensive workshops with international artists, to reflect together the productions invited to Theatertreffen and theatre in general and to exchange ideas.Deadline for applications: 5 December 2024 (23:59, CET)

International Forum

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The Programme Is Online

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On 22 January, the Theatertreffen’s jury of critics announced their selection of the 10 most remarkable productions for the 2025 Theatertreffen at a press conference. Our congratulations go to the nominated production teams and all participants!

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A new edition of “BURNING ISSUES x Theatertreffen” is in planning under the title “PERFORMING ARTS &amp; SOLIDARITY”, in co-operation with Szenografie-Bund as well as with Deutsches Theater Berlin and Sophiensaele. The Theatertreffen-programme, which will feature a range of discursive formats and keynotes, is being developed by Nora Hertlein-Hull together with dramaturgs Aljoscha Begrich and Sima Djabar Zadegan with reference to the ten selected productions.&nbsp; Nele Hertling will receive the Theatre Prize Berlin of Stiftung Preu&szlig;ische Seehandlung for her services to the theatre. As Theatertreffen’s long-standing media partner, 3sat will present especially produced TV-recordings of productions invited to the festival in its programme. This year’s “Starke St&uuml;cke” are: “Bucket List” (Schaub&uuml;hne am Lehniner Platz), “Laios. ANTHROPOLIS II” (Deutsches SchauSpielHaus Hamburg) and “Macbeth” (Schauspielhaus Bochum).&nbsp; The programme schedule of the 2024 Theatertreffen will be published on 5&nbsp;April; ticket sales begin on 19&nbsp;April.&nbsp;

Preparations Are Underway for the 2024 Edition of the Festival

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The Theatertreffen invites 30 exciting artists from all parts of the world to attend and reflect the festival and to exchange ideas and experiences across artistic and national boundaries. We are very much looking forward to welcoming all participants and thank everyone for their applications! More than 700 artists from 75 countries responded to the Open Call published in the autumn of 2023.

The 2024 International Forum Participants

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“Reviews are the worst thing about this job,” comments director Jette Steckel, who was invited to the 2023 Theatertreffen with “Die Vaterlosen”, in a guest article written for the Theatertreffen-Blog. Here young art journalists took a critical look at the 10 productions and themes all around the Theatertreffen. Reviews, essays and interviews were published continuously throughout the festival. You can read, for example, about “Lord of the Rings” fan Leonard Haverkamp’s experience of the accessible installation “Riesenhaft in Mittelerde”™ or Marta Ivkić’s review of “Bucket List”. And you can also learn more about the creative interactions of the 29 participants in the International Forum in Elliot Douglas’s article “The power of collaborative theatre”.

Perspectives on Theatertreffen

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Theatertreffen 2024: Impressionen

Theatertreffen 2024: Impressions

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Impressions

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Each year, the 10 most remarkable productions are selected by a jury of critics from up to 600&nbsp;shows within the German-language region and the viewing period.

The 10 Productions

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On the occasion of the 60th anniversary of the International Forum, a special framing programme will exclusively present alumni of the International Forum.

Forum Theatertreffen 1965–2025

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The International Forum is an initial impetus for collaboration, the search for diverse local perspectives on global issues, and a free space for developing artistic ideas together.

International Forum

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Aspiring arts journalists with a keen interest in the theatre&nbsp;will attend and critically reflect the Theatertreffen with the support of experienced mentors.

Theatertreffen-Blog

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Short impulse key notes by alumni of the International Forum will be followed by conversations between participants from the respective production and the audience about decisions regarding content and aesthetics.

Audience Talks

At a Glance

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by Martin Thomas Pesl

In his essay on the theatre year 2024, Theatertreffen-juror Martin Thomas Pesl looks to the past and to the future – and finds legacy issues, multiple identities, AI and even a spark of hope.

Black is the New Black

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The upcoming 2025 Theatertreffen is inspiring and exciting. This year’s festival promises new stories, new voices and new perspectives. We have the opportunity to experience seven premieres and the works of just as many directors showcasing their productions at the Theatertreffen for the first time, such as works from the Theater Magdeburg and the Vienna-based production and performance venue brut Wien. For us as theatre-goers, this is as an excellent opportunity to embrace new narratives and engage in new forms of story-telling and presentation which we have never, or only rarely, experienced in theatre.

Claudia Roth, Minister of State for Culture and the Media

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By Martin Thomas Pesl

Black is the New Black

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A few years ago, the director Katie Mitchell’s daughter gave her a seemingly simple task: not to create any more theatre productions that ended with women killing themselves. Mitchell’s production of “Bernada Albas Haus” opens the 2025 Theatertreffen. In staging this new version of the classic by Alice Birch, Mitchell has nevertheless made the artistic decision that the female characters should decide to die at the end of the production. In the director’s vision, it is impossible for people at present to envisage themselves and their future escaping a spiral of increasing violence.

Katarzyna Wielga-Skolimowska and Kirsten Ha&szlig;, German Federal Cultural Foundation

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Performing Exiles is an international and interdisciplinary festival produced by the Berliner Festspiele, that seeks to make diasporic lives in the city of Berlin visible and explore the contemporary meaning of exile. The programme has already been published and tickets are available now.

Performing Exiles

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Marking twenty years since artist, writer and performer Vaginal Davis made Berlin her home, Gropius Bau presents the first comprehensive solo exhibition of her work in Germany. In her expansive oeuvre, punk meets glamour, queer activism meets Black counter-culture and resistance meets desire.

Vaginal Davis: Fabelhaftes Produkt

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Since the 1950s Yoko Ono has been ahead of her time, leaving her mark on visual arts, music and activism. To honour her groundbreaking work, Gropius Bau presents a comprehensive solo exhibition.

YOKO ONO: MUSIC OF THE MIND

Fallback-Bild Musikfest Berlin

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Musikfest Berlin 2025 brings together guest performances by the world’s best symphony orchestras and choirs from the Netherlands, France, Belgium and Italy, which are rarely heard in Berlin. The full programme is online and tickets are available now.

Musikfest Berlin

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Each year, the Theatertreffen brings the 10 most remarkable productions from the German-language region as well as the works of emerging artists to Berlin.