On this season's motto
IMMER WIEDER JETZT (ALWAYS NOW)
Is the motto of this season.
Society needs continuous communication and negotiation – both about the now of our present times and about the past.
The theatre is always now – and only now. The theatre is live and the theatre begins from the beginning, with every first rehearsal, with every performance.
The past few months were shaped by the debate about how a society can come to an understanding about the past. Because not everyone is talking about the same thing – even if it is tempting to make that assumption. And not everyone thinks the same. Neither in families nor at work or in clubs. Nor within the circle of friends around us.
And there was another discussion, perhaps even more pervasive than the first: How do we as a society talk or come to an understanding about the past – and about its significance and weight for our present times?
One thing could be felt more intensely than before: Evidently, frequent discussion and analysis of the past and the present from the point of view of Now are necessary. And this results in a complex, contradictory perspective of many voices – not only concerning what is Now.
This kind of discussion can often be an opportunity. Sometimes it is a burden. Because the debate appears to start from zero. Sometimes, the present is changeable and alterable; sometimes, it isn’t. But at least there is an opportunity for communication. And for self-affirmation.
And yet: Starting at zero, time after time, is an old theatrical principle. It is something that we know how to handle. The theatre, too, is Now, always: Theatre is live, theatre begins at zero every night. And every production begins at zero in its own specific way, in spite of all the participants’ experience, in spite of all professional routine. It is always new.
In essence, the theatre has carried society, the past and the present into the Now together for around 2,500 years. It is a place of self-affirmation – and a place to discuss the past, the present and the future.
Our strongest motivation is that the interest that you, our audience, show in our artistic work and in gathering at Schauspiel Leipzig, is greater than it has been for a long time.
Only together with you can the theatre become the place that anchors society in the always Now – with references, contradictions, refractions across all times and through your points of view.
The enthusiasm that you have shown by your many visits and during the performances is a great impetus for us, and you showed it to all forms of theatre our repertoire has to offer: from large-scale shows to monologues, from drama to comedy, from world premieres via performance to classics.
Great classics are at the centre of this season: Shakespeare’s “Richard III”, Kleist’s “Der zerbrochne Krug (The Broken Jug)”, Bram Stoker’s / F.W. Murnau’s “Nosferatu”: All of them are major texts with hefty stories and strong, demanding and challenging lead roles. Challenging for both our company and the audience. But there are also ‘major texts’ in the sense of large-scale ensemble shows, such as, for instance, the classic comedy “Arsen und Spitzenhäubchen (Arsenic and Old Lace)”.
This season’s new productions, whether they are on the Main Stage or at Diskothek, have in common that they often deal with self-affirmation – and/or at the same time with addressing elusive, vague resistances. Resistances that don’t really become discernible to the characters – including great personal abysses from the present or the past, all the way to spirits and the undead. This applies to Richard III in Shakespeare’s eponymous drama and to Jonathan and Mina in “Nosferatu”; it concerns Kleist’s country judge Adam on one side of the dock just as much as it concerns Eve on the other. And it also concerns the characters in our world premiere at Diskothek: Zoey and Trisha in Raphaela Bardutzky’s “Altbau in zentraler Lage”, the couple in Sarah Kilter’s “Von Wunden und Wundern” who urgently require any kind of miracle in their life together, and the siblings in Anna Behringer’s “Aufzeichnungen aus einem weißen Zimmer” who find themselves subjected to societal norms that they cannot make sense of.
And we have also developed a strong existing repertoire that we want to continue to present on stage, as, for instance, “Cabaret” and “Arturo Ui”, “Medea” and “Besuch der alten Dame (The Visit)” or our long-running success “Gott des Gemetzels (God of Carnage)”. Because this wide range of material and aesthetics is the great strength of ensemble and city theatre as we see it. This also applies to our “Diskothek”-venue: Its repertoire is a true treasure trove of contemporary drama, unique in the theatre landscape – and we want to continue to foster and show it.
We are looking forward to these subjects and stories, to classics and world premieres – and we hope that you will continue to join us as we search for communication always, debate always, encounters always – and always Now.
Society needs continuous communication and negotiation – both about the now of our present times and about the past.
The theatre is always now – and only now. The theatre is live and the theatre begins from the beginning, with every first rehearsal, with every performance.
The past few months were shaped by the debate about how a society can come to an understanding about the past. Because not everyone is talking about the same thing – even if it is tempting to make that assumption. And not everyone thinks the same. Neither in families nor at work or in clubs. Nor within the circle of friends around us.
And there was another discussion, perhaps even more pervasive than the first: How do we as a society talk or come to an understanding about the past – and about its significance and weight for our present times?
One thing could be felt more intensely than before: Evidently, frequent discussion and analysis of the past and the present from the point of view of Now are necessary. And this results in a complex, contradictory perspective of many voices – not only concerning what is Now.
This kind of discussion can often be an opportunity. Sometimes it is a burden. Because the debate appears to start from zero. Sometimes, the present is changeable and alterable; sometimes, it isn’t. But at least there is an opportunity for communication. And for self-affirmation.
And yet: Starting at zero, time after time, is an old theatrical principle. It is something that we know how to handle. The theatre, too, is Now, always: Theatre is live, theatre begins at zero every night. And every production begins at zero in its own specific way, in spite of all the participants’ experience, in spite of all professional routine. It is always new.
In essence, the theatre has carried society, the past and the present into the Now together for around 2,500 years. It is a place of self-affirmation – and a place to discuss the past, the present and the future.
Our strongest motivation is that the interest that you, our audience, show in our artistic work and in gathering at Schauspiel Leipzig, is greater than it has been for a long time.
Only together with you can the theatre become the place that anchors society in the always Now – with references, contradictions, refractions across all times and through your points of view.
The enthusiasm that you have shown by your many visits and during the performances is a great impetus for us, and you showed it to all forms of theatre our repertoire has to offer: from large-scale shows to monologues, from drama to comedy, from world premieres via performance to classics.
Great classics are at the centre of this season: Shakespeare’s “Richard III”, Kleist’s “Der zerbrochne Krug (The Broken Jug)”, Bram Stoker’s / F.W. Murnau’s “Nosferatu”: All of them are major texts with hefty stories and strong, demanding and challenging lead roles. Challenging for both our company and the audience. But there are also ‘major texts’ in the sense of large-scale ensemble shows, such as, for instance, the classic comedy “Arsen und Spitzenhäubchen (Arsenic and Old Lace)”.
This season’s new productions, whether they are on the Main Stage or at Diskothek, have in common that they often deal with self-affirmation – and/or at the same time with addressing elusive, vague resistances. Resistances that don’t really become discernible to the characters – including great personal abysses from the present or the past, all the way to spirits and the undead. This applies to Richard III in Shakespeare’s eponymous drama and to Jonathan and Mina in “Nosferatu”; it concerns Kleist’s country judge Adam on one side of the dock just as much as it concerns Eve on the other. And it also concerns the characters in our world premiere at Diskothek: Zoey and Trisha in Raphaela Bardutzky’s “Altbau in zentraler Lage”, the couple in Sarah Kilter’s “Von Wunden und Wundern” who urgently require any kind of miracle in their life together, and the siblings in Anna Behringer’s “Aufzeichnungen aus einem weißen Zimmer” who find themselves subjected to societal norms that they cannot make sense of.
And we have also developed a strong existing repertoire that we want to continue to present on stage, as, for instance, “Cabaret” and “Arturo Ui”, “Medea” and “Besuch der alten Dame (The Visit)” or our long-running success “Gott des Gemetzels (God of Carnage)”. Because this wide range of material and aesthetics is the great strength of ensemble and city theatre as we see it. This also applies to our “Diskothek”-venue: Its repertoire is a true treasure trove of contemporary drama, unique in the theatre landscape – and we want to continue to foster and show it.
We are looking forward to these subjects and stories, to classics and world premieres – and we hope that you will continue to join us as we search for communication always, debate always, encounters always – and always Now.
