By Sebastian Bauer
When presenting her directorship and the next season at the Deutsches Theater, Iris Laufenberg promises flat hierarchies, theater according to the wishes of the audience, many premieres and some classics in a new guise.
A lot will be new, but well-known actors such as Ulrich Matthes (64), Maren Eggert (49) and Alexander Khuon (44) will remain loyal to the Deutsches Theater from the new season.
“The ensemble is the heart of a theatre,” says the new director Iris Laufenberg (57). Your new team is therefore a precisely blended mix of 40 percent old ensemble, 30 percent your own companions and 30 percent external applicants.
The Cologne dramaturge, who headed the Berlin Theatertreffen from 2003 to 2011 and was most recently managing director at the Graz theater, was very well supported by her predecessor Ulrich Khuon (72). “Such a collegial transition is not a matter of course in the theatre,” says Laufenberg.
Her theatrical approach is based on the needs of the audience. “In the 19th century the focus was on the actor, in the 20th century on the director and today it’s all together, especially the audience.”
The Deutsches Theater says goodbye to the 14-year-old Artistic Director Ulrich Khuons Photo: Ralf Gunther
Flat hierarchies are important to the new DT boss. “When many heads think along, more comes out of it.”
Among the new contributors is the author Nino Haratischwili (39, “The Eighth Life (For Brilka)”), who is directing part 2 of her trilogy about ancient queens with “Penthesilea: A Requiem” (from 23.2.24) and is ” very very very” looking forward to it.
Other highlights are three plays (including “Böhm” from 21.6.24) by or with a puppet maker and director Nikolaus Habjan (35).
During the season performance, his puppet version of the conductor Karl Böhm (1894-1981) interrupted the director with entertaining Austrian cheekiness such as “Does is the wrong house”.
Puppeteer Nikolaus Habjan as conductor Karl Böhm Photo: dpa Bildfunk
Also planned are the science fiction study “Universe Earth Man” by Alexander Eisenach (from September 16, 2023), Pinar Karabulut’s Elfriede Jelinek adaptation “Ulrike Maria Stuart” (from February 28, 2024) and Claudia Bossard’s Rainald Goetz production “Barracks” (from 9/22/23).
For the Theater-RambaZamba co-production “Der Schimmelreiter/Hauke Haiens Tod” Jan-Christoph Gockel combined the Theodor Storm classic with an old novel by Robert Habeck.