Theater in transition: Castorf, Jelinek and the search for originality!

Theater in transition: Castorf, Jelinek and the search for originality!

A lot is happening in our theater life, and not just in Vienna. The performance of “Wozzeck” was recently resumed in Berlin after 14 years under the direction of Christian Thielemann. A major coup that inflames emotions. At the same time, Aix-en-Provence is celebrating successes with “Salome” and “Butterfly”. What's next? The production of “Turandot” is expected in Frankfurt, and there are also exciting projects on the docket in Hamburg. The question remains, however, in which direction German-language theater will develop.

Recently, voices have become louder that are critical of the current theater landscape. German-speaking theater is confronted with many weak imitators of the post-dramatic founding generation. These are figures like Frank Castorf, Elfriede Jelinek and Christoph Schlingensief who inevitably come up for discussion. Castorf, born in East Berlin in 1951, is considered a master of his craft who knows how to consciously design his theater. He worked as artistic director of the Volksbühne at Rosa-Luxemburg-Platz from 1992 to 2015 and is closely linked to the post-dramatic theater movement.

The fight for originality

Young directors don't have it easy these days. The fight for attention is still the order of the day to secure commitments. Theater managers and the features section demand unconditional originality. That may sound exciting, but it is not always easy to implement. A look back at the “giant era” at the Berlin Schaubühne, in which directors such as Peter Stein, Klaus Michael Grüber and Luc Bondy captivated the audience, shows that much more ensemble work and house-specific signature were once celebrated.

Interestingly, great actors known as transformers are less in demand than they were a few decades ago. In addition, the speaking culture is perceived as catastrophic. A nighttime “crime scene” was cited as an example of acoustic incomprehensibility and disturbing noises – a problem that not only affects the crime series, but also many theater productions.

Postdramatic theater and its challenges

Postdramatic theater, which has established itself as a performance-related form since the 1980s, represents a clear departure from traditional spoken theater. The term was coined by Hans-Thies Lehmann in 1999 and shows how social issues and postmodern philosophical discourses are integrated into the productions. What is particularly interesting is the new trend towards documentary aesthetics and the integration of various discourses, from everyday life to special topics.

In recent years there has been a return to realistic aesthetics in contemporary drama, described as “post-postdramatic theatre”. Such developments show that the turnaround to realism should not be understood as a step backwards, but rather as a new variety of theater.

The challenges for theater makers are manifold: they have to constantly reinvent themselves in order to remain relevant in today's contemporary context. But how does this pursuit of relevance manifest itself in practice? That remains to be seen, but one thing is certain: the theater will remain an exciting playing field in the years to come.