The Schaubühne Berlin under Thomas Ostermeier: Reinventing Realism

by Peter M. Boenisch (Editor)

Overview

On the 20th anniversary of artistic director Thomas Ostermeier's time at Berlin's Schaubühne Theatre, this important study reflects on the contribution the theatre has made to contemporary theatre, not just in Germany, but around the world.

Ostermeier has kept extending and refining the important notion of German Regietheater (directors' theatre) with the Schaubühne Theatre being its internationally famous birthplace under the previous artistic direction of Peter Stein. Through doing so, the work produced at the Schaubühne has transgressed established divides of text-based and devised theatre, and blurred the borders between theatre and dance.

Combining scholarly reflection with interview material, this essential collection investigates how theatre has been reinvented by the Schaubühne under Ostermeier's tenure, bringing together international theatre scholars such as Erika Fischer-Lichte, Marvin Carlson, Jitka Goriaux Pelechova, Benjamin Fowler, Ramona Mosse and Sabine Huschka. This study also considers productions by some of Ostermeier's past and present collaborators, such as Katie Mitchell, Falk Richter and Sasha Waltz.

This edition also includes the first English translation of Schaubühne's original manifesto “The Mission” (1999); a contribution from Ostermeier's long-term co-director Jens Hillje; a contribution from Hans-Thies Lehmann on Falk Richter; and an interview with Thomas Ostermeier by Clare Finburgh Delijani.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781350165809
Publisher:	Bloomsbury Publishing
Publication date:	11/12/2020
Series:	Methuen Drama Engage
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	232
File size:	4 MB

About the Author

Peter M. Boenisch is Professor of Dramaturgy at Aarhus University, Denmark and Professor of European Theatre at the Royal Central School of Speech and Drama, University of London, UK. His specialist areas are theatre direction and dramaturgy, with a particular focus on the German- and Dutch-speaking countries, as well as the institutional aesthetics and politics of the European theatre system. His books include Directing Scenes and Senses: The thinking of Regie (2015), The Theatre of Thomas Ostermeier, co-authored with the German theatre director (2016), and the volume Littlewood – Strehler – Planchon in the Methuen Drama series The Great European Stage Directors (co-edited with Clare Finburgh, Methuen Drama 2018). He also edited the 30th anniversary edition of David Bradby and David Williams's seminal study Directors' Theatre (2019). With Rachel Fensham, he is series co-editor of the series New World Choreographies.

Table of Contents

List of Illustrations
Notes on Contributors
Acknowledgements
Preface - 20 years of the Schaubühne Berlin under Thomas Ostermeier: Ambitions, achievements, transformations by Peter M Boenisch

I. The Schaubühne Berlin under Thomas Ostermeier: Reinventing an institution
1) The first season: The Mission (1999) by Thomas Ostermeier, Jens Hillje, Sasha Waltz and Jochen Sandig
2) Between philosophical and sociological theatre: The political Regietheater of Peter Stein and Thomas Ostermeier at the Schaubühne Berlin by Erika Fischer-Lichte
3) The Schaubühne's Civic Mission in the Age of Globalization: An Imaginary Island that Probes Society by Ramona Mosse
4) 'Audiences know their cause will be treated': Making political theatre at the Schaubühne – Thomas Ostermeier in conversation with Clare Finburgh Delijani

II. Thomas Ostermeier at the Schaubühne: Reinventing 'Directors' Theatre'
5) Socialist Realism, Capitalist Realism, Ostermeier Realism by Marvin Carlson
6) Thomas Ostermeier's Shakespeare productions: The mise en action of canonical plays by Jitka Goriaux Pelechová
7) Hamlet out of joint: Variations on a theme in Thomas Ostermeier's production, 2008-2020 by Elisa Leroy
8) Sensing the North: Thomas Ostermeier and the Schaubühne in Brazil by Igor de Almeida Silva
9) Confronting the present: Thomas Ostermeier's post-conceptual Regietheater by Peter M. Boenisch

III. The Schaubühne's experiments across forms and borders: Towards a new realism
10) Theatre towards the liberation of thinking: Experimenting with realism(s) at the Schaubühne, 2000-2010 by Jens Hillje
11) Re-scripting Realism: Katie Mitchell and Thomas Ostermeier at the Schaubühne by Benjamin Fowler
12) Encountering the rage from the South: Latin American theatre at the Schaubühne's F.I.N.D. festival by Marina Ceppi
13) Performing Bodies as a scenic playground of social realities: Choreographic Theatre at the Berlin Schaubühne by Sabine Huschka
14) REST/less EXHAUSTION, SEMI-CALM: Some notes on Falk Richter and Anouk van Dijk's Trust by Hans-Thies Lehmann

Bibliography
Index

Editorial Reviews

Since 1999 under the directorship of Thomas Ostermeier the Schaubühne Berlin has become the most visible German theatre on the international stage. In this volume, Peter M. Boenisch, author of a major monograph on Ostermeier, achieves the rare feat of bringing together contributions both from the artistic team as well as together an impressive collection of distinguished scholars from around the world which mutually illuminate this remarkable theatre.
Christopher Balme, University of Munich, Germany

This timely collection of essays by formative theatre scholars and practitioners is a must-read for anyone seeking insight into the trans/national implications of the Berlin Schaubühne institutional politics, largely cued to Ostermeier's artistic leadership, and the ethics of realism that characterize much of his directorial work. This thought-provoking compilation is as suggestive for its approach to this theatre's self-critical institutional and production dramaturgy as it is for modeling a vital collaboration between scholars and artists.
Hana Worthen, Barnard College, Columbia University, USA

From the Publisher