The Volksbühne is now getting an outdoor pool: Swimming with Matthias Lilienthal

The theater manager as lifeguard: This guarantees beautiful images and should be seen as a generous gesture to the city – and as criticism of Berlin’s dilapidated infrastructure.

Florentina Holzinger is supposed to prepare a small performance for the theater swimming; her water plays “Ophelia’s Got Talent” and “A Year Without Summer” remain in the repertoire, as do various pieces by René Pollesch, Philippe Quesne and Christoph Marthaler. Holzinger is on the artistic advisory board of the house and she will only produce a new piece here in the season after next. The choreographer, who is currently incredibly in demand, sees the Volksbühne as her home base.

Lilienthal ensures continuity. Kathrin Angerer, Sophie Rois, Sir Henry and Martin Wuttke continue to be members of the Volksbühne ensemble. But there is also a lot that is new. What stands out above all is that this is a theater for Berlin. Lilienthal was born here and, as the founder of Hebbel am Ufer, he once showed that theater is a qualified urban space. For Berlin this means: The Volksbühne sees itself as both local and international. This can be seen in the opening round from October 1st to 3rd.

The Prater is back

Rimini Protocol begins on the big stage with “House of Hopes”, a historical investigation into the question of what happened around the world when the Wall fell in Berlin? This is followed by “Mononoke,” a play by Japanese author and director Satoko Ichihara. Anta Recke brings Vincenzo Latronico’s Berlin novel “Perfection” to the stage in the Prater.

After the outdoor pool spectacle, this is the second major point of Lilienthal’s direction: the traditional venue on Kastanienallee, freshly restored and with new technology, will be used again, next year, for example, with a production by Milan Peschel in collaboration with the RambaZamba Theater.

“All the luck in the world”: At Rosa-Luxemburg-Platz, Lena Brasch stages a recently discovered text by Thomas Brasch, the Brazilian choreographers Wallace Ferreira and Davi Pontes deal with the art of self-defense. “Fräulein Else” will be taken from Vienna, the solo performance by Julia Riedler directed by Leonie Böhm, which was recently celebrated at the Theatertreffen and is preparing a new piece for the Volksbühne, as well as Christopher Rüping and the choreographer Marlene Monteiro Freitas.

At the press conference in the Prater, Matthias Lilienthal promised the city of Berlin a “loving hug”. Knowing him, there will be one or two kicks in the butt. After the game plan presentation, there were French fries for everyone, brought in by Konnopke. It doesn’t get more Berlin-ish. Fries belong to the outdoor pool like Lilienthal belongs to the Volksbühne, where he was chief dramaturge for Frank Castorf until 1998.

It’s good that he’s back in these nasty times. As he says: “We’ll drive one or two things up the wall.”