Schedule

Robert Icke has congenially translated Arthur Schnitzler's play «Professor Bernhardi» into the present day. The doctor Ruth Wolff not only comes into conflict with her colleagues and the maxims of the Catholic Church, but also into a media shitstorm. The «Times» of London celebrated «The Doctor» as an «open-heart operation on our present day, which gets more complicated the deeper you cut».

Rainald Goetz, the remarkable multi award-winning author, has entrusted resident director Elsa-Sophie Jach with the world premiere of his latest theatre text. The text is a bold mix of genres: a diary and requiem interwoven with scenes from a crazy screenplay project with Helmut Dietl and Franz Xaver Kroetz, to whom Goetz has dedicated the play. And in it he also pays his respects to his native Bavaria, both to the city of Munich and the foothills of the Alps. Playful, poetic, profound, absolutely undramatic – and, of course, a work of genius.

Romeo and Juliet set the language of love against the war of their relatives, the language of the dagger. Will they manage to set an example against the irreconcilable enmity that prevails in Verona? In-house director Elsa-Sophie Jach re-stages the world's most famous love story and the dance on the volcano that sweeps its main characters away, with lots of music and hot hearts.

When Goethe set «Götz von Berlichingen» down on paper in 1771 in a true writing frenzy, the 22-year-old writer was still a complete unknown. This came to an abrupt end with the publication of «Götz», as suddenly the young poet was being talked about everywhere. Goethe’s early work is a powerful stage epic with over fifty locations, several plots running in parallel and a huge cast of characters. What is more: Goethe dispensed with all the customary conventions that 18^th century drama had been using up to that point.

After a quarter of a century, Brandner Kaspar returns to the Residenztheater – and how! Based on Franz von Kobell's dialect story, Franz Xaver Kroetz tells the story of the Bavarian stubborn man who refuses to bow even to Death himself, the Boanlkramer, in a very honest and touching way, yet completely unsentimental and with a great deal of humour. Munich-based film, theatre and opera director Philipp Stölzl brings the «Gschichtn vom Brandner Kaspar» to the stage as a «big picture book, because the play is, of course, a fairy tale».

Every Saturday you have the opportunity to discover the world behind the scenes at the Residenztheater.

After a quarter of a century, Brandner Kaspar returns to the Residenztheater – and how! Based on Franz von Kobell's dialect story, Franz Xaver Kroetz tells the story of the Bavarian stubborn man who refuses to bow even to Death himself, the Boanlkramer, in a very honest and touching way, yet completely unsentimental and with a great deal of humour. Munich-based film, theatre and opera director Philipp Stölzl brings the «Gschichtn vom Brandner Kaspar» to the stage as a «big picture book, because the play is, of course, a fairy tale».

This new work by the Italian director Silvia Costa combines two plays by Marguerite Duras, the grande dame of French literature. While in «La Musica», on the evening after their divorce, a couple take a realistic look back at the life they shared and imagine what might have happened if they had stayed together, «The English Lover» presents the nightmare version of the end of a relationship, in which violence that has been smouldering for years erupts.

Intrigues, conspiracies, political intrigues - Schiller's tragedy depicts the power struggle between the English Queen Elizabeth I and the Scottish Queen Mary Stuart. But what if only chance decides between power and powerlessness? Then the roles could also be «swapped». For each performance, a draw is held to decide which of the two actresses will play the victor or the vanquished.

Suddenly the phone rings and life changes from one day to the next. This was also what Simone de Beauvoir and her sister experienced when they found out that their mother was in hospital. Simone de Beauvoir describes honestly and movingly what it means to bid farewell to the person who gave you life. Following the success of «(Non)Mothers!» the actors Sibylle Canonica, Barbara Horvath and Lisa Stiegler produce the stage premiere of this personal piece of world literature.

The legendary musical «Cabaret» entices us into the dazzling world of the Kit Kat Club in the 1930s. Every night the enigmatic Sally Bowles thrills the audience with her famous song «Life is a Cabaret», a celebration of decadence and diversity. The young American Clifford Bradshaw is caught up in this intensely sensual world. Yet, at the same time, something dark is becoming an ever-stronger presence in the daily lives of these exuberant fun-lovers.

This new work by the Italian director Silvia Costa combines two plays by Marguerite Duras, the grande dame of French literature. While in «La Musica», on the evening after their divorce, a couple take a realistic look back at the life they shared and imagine what might have happened if they had stayed together, «The English Lover» presents the nightmare version of the end of a relationship, in which violence that has been smouldering for years erupts.

One last day in Paris, the final hours of a great love affair and the certainty that nothing will ever be the same again. In «Abschied (Parting)», Sebastian Haffner recounts his last encounter with his beloved Teddy. Between cafés, museum visits, fleeting encounters and intense conversations, the carefree attitude to life of the early 1930s becomes increasingly apparent. The novel accompanies the two through hours of closeness, doubt and hope until the moment on the platform that irrevocably separates them. Poetic, atmospherically dense and very personal, Sebastian Haffner describes not only the end of a great love, but also the farewell to his own youth and an era shortly before its demise. Haffner needed only a few weeks in 1932 to write this novel, which until recently had remained unpublished. Director Matthias Rippert is now bringing the material to the stage for the first time, continuing his work at the Residenztheater after the success of «Blind».

Asiimwe Deborah Kawe's play tells the story of the life's work of an undocumented immigrant. Like so many others, the nurse Achen, the author's main character, contributes with her labour and as a taxpayer to the prosperity of a country that has decided to expel her overnight.

Romeo and Juliet set the language of love against the war of their relatives, the language of the dagger. Will they manage to set an example against the irreconcilable enmity that prevails in Verona? In-house director Elsa-Sophie Jach re-stages the world's most famous love story and the dance on the volcano that sweeps its main characters away, with lots of music and hot hearts.

Hollywood, glamour, seduction: Mara becomes a star in the game «Daddy». But the deeper she immerses herself in the dazzling dream world, the more the boundaries between reality and fiction become blurred. Marion Siéfert and Matthieu Bareyre transform the stage into a virtual playing field and expose the promises and abysses of the digital world.

Romeo and Juliet set the language of love against the war of their relatives, the language of the dagger. Will they manage to set an example against the irreconcilable enmity that prevails in Verona? In-house director Elsa-Sophie Jach re-stages the world's most famous love story and the dance on the volcano that sweeps its main characters away, with lots of music and hot hearts.

Asiimwe Deborah Kawe's play tells the story of the life's work of an undocumented immigrant. Like so many others, the nurse Achen, the author's main character, contributes with her labour and as a taxpayer to the prosperity of a country that has decided to expel her overnight.

The Austrian playwright Werner Schwab is regarded as a radical reviver of the folk play and a linguistic virtuoso. For his comedy «Die Präsidentinnen», he created three incomparable female characters in Erna, Grete and Mariedl who try to defend their modest place in life with peasant cunning and a will to survive only to be tripped up by their own vainglorious delusions.  

Jovana Reisinger’s novel follows nine women from early spring to the summer of an unspecified year not far from the present. All of them live in or around Munich and they are all named after women’s magazines. They live and fail representatively, each of them alone and yet collectively, by the images and ideals of what it means to be a woman.

Every Saturday you have the opportunity to discover the world behind the scenes at the Residenztheater.

Playwright Yasmina Reza («James Brown Wore Curlers») is fascinated by court cases, and her collection of short stories summarises her observations from recent years. She laconically and pointedly observes the moments when incomprehensible deeds must be judged, conflicting statements must be found to be true or false, and often entire lives hang in the balance – and, almost in passing, captures a panorama of human existence. Resident director Nora Schlocker adapts the texts for the stage.

«After Midnight» tells the story of two days in 1936. Nineteen-year-old Sanna takes refuge with her brother Algin, a blacklisted author. In between the parties, cafes and bars she begins to recognise that the world she lives in has been increasingly taken over by ideology. Keun’s novel from exile is a haunting depiction of daily life under fascism – her second international success after «The Artificial Silk Girl».

The Austrian playwright Werner Schwab is regarded as a radical reviver of the folk play and a linguistic virtuoso. For his comedy «Die Präsidentinnen», he created three incomparable female characters in Erna, Grete and Mariedl who try to defend their modest place in life with peasant cunning and a will to survive only to be tripped up by their own vainglorious delusions.  

1937 in a fishing village after the outbreak of the Spanish Civil War. Mrs. Carrar has forbidden her sons to join the fight against Franco. She desperately hopes to be spared war and terror. But how much longer can she protect herself and her sons? And what should she say to her brother, who demands that she hand over the guns hidden in the house and asks the all-important question: «If the sharks attack you, is it you who will use violence?» In Brecht's short play, everything revolves around the unsettling question of the possibility of neutral abstention. In his play «Choking Lead», playwright Björn SC Deigner continues Brecht's question in the present and searches for a language for the timeless horror of war and destruction.

Vladimir and Estragon are waiting for Godot, who they neither know who he is nor what they actually want from him. With his ambiguous work about waiting and the passing of time, which has been interpreted in all directions, Nobel Prize winner Samuel Beckett created one of the classics of modernism, which in-house director Claudia Bauer reinterprets.

Freddie Mercury, front man of the legendary British rock band Queen, spent a lot of time in Munich from 1979 to 1985. He lived in several apartments here, forged close friendships and recorded his first solo album. What drew him to the Isar? Love, the wild nightlife and the many meeting points of the city’s gay community? The Musicland Studios of Giorgio Moroder and their pioneering innovations in electronic music? Or did he simply want to avoid the rigid British tax laws?

No other play by Heinrich von Kleist inspires quite so many superlatives as «Käthchen of Heilbronn». It is not only the most successful, but also the most romantic, the most fairy tale-like and at the same time the most mysterious play that he wrote.

In Peter Weiss’ boundary breaking drama, two champions of excess disillusioned with the French Revolution meet: Marat v. de Sade. A debate between Marat, the advocate of terror, and the Marquis de Sade, the libertine, about the all-important question of whether change is at all possible. And if so, at what price? And by what means? «Marat/Sade» is a spectacle of transition, of changing times and of doubt.

One last day in Paris, the final hours of a great love affair and the certainty that nothing will ever be the same again. In «Abschied (Parting)», Sebastian Haffner recounts his last encounter with his beloved Teddy. Between cafés, museum visits, fleeting encounters and intense conversations, the carefree attitude to life of the early 1930s becomes increasingly apparent. The novel accompanies the two through hours of closeness, doubt and hope until the moment on the platform that irrevocably separates them. Poetic, atmospherically dense and very personal, Sebastian Haffner describes not only the end of a great love, but also the farewell to his own youth and an era shortly before its demise. Haffner needed only a few weeks in 1932 to write this novel, which until recently had remained unpublished. Director Matthias Rippert is now bringing the material to the stage for the first time, continuing his work at the Residenztheater after the success of «Blind».

The Jewish author Anna Gmeyner, rediscovered only a few years ago – she was forced into exile by the Nazis in 1933 – tells the story of the big world in miniature in Automatenbüfett. While Mrs Adam tries to keep her vending machine restaurant running, Mr Adam pursues his supposedly revolutionary economic vision, which is supposed to serve the good of all. However, with the appearance of the unknown Eva, the eternal order of the small town begins to falter.

The Austrian playwright Werner Schwab is regarded as a radical reviver of the folk play and a linguistic virtuoso. For his comedy «Die Präsidentinnen», he created three incomparable female characters in Erna, Grete and Mariedl who try to defend their modest place in life with peasant cunning and a will to survive only to be tripped up by their own vainglorious delusions.  

Oedipus, the lead candidate of a new political movement, is as good as assured of election victory. But why are the circumstances of his predecessor’s fatal road traffic accident classified? And what is the fake news regarding his origins about? Oedipus starts to investigate – despite all the warnings. As in his updating of Schnitzler’s «The Doctor», Robert Icke has radically translated a theatre classic into the present. Icke’s «Oedipus» looks behind the myth and is both a family tragedy and a political thriller.

For her first production at the Residenztheater, the director Rieke Süßkow, renowned for the thoroughly composed aesthetic of her work, has chosen the last drama of the great Spanish writer Federico García Lorca. Its protagonist Bernarda Alba is a widow who declares eight years of mourning after the death of her husband and turns her house into a form of prison for her five daughters while unquestioningly accepting the patriarchal system of provincial Spain.

Successful playwright Lot Vekemans hits the nerve of the times with her new play. With great sensitivity, she tells the story of a father and daughter, played by Manfred Zapatka and Juliane Köhler, who have seemingly irreconcilable attitudes to social and political issues, and asks how these conflicts can be overcome.

Every Saturday you have the opportunity to discover the world behind the scenes at the Residenztheater.

Tessa Ensler is a successful lawyer whose supreme discipline is the defence of defendants in sexual assault cases. Then she herself is raped - by a colleague. She reports him and is now on the other side of the cross-examination - as the victim. With «Prima Facie», Suzie Miller gives a voice to millions of women who suffer violence worldwide.

For her first production at the Residenztheater, the director Rieke Süßkow, renowned for the thoroughly composed aesthetic of her work, has chosen the last drama of the great Spanish writer Federico García Lorca. Its protagonist Bernarda Alba is a widow who declares eight years of mourning after the death of her husband and turns her house into a form of prison for her five daughters while unquestioningly accepting the patriarchal system of provincial Spain.

New York City in the final months of the Obama Presidency. While the writer Toby Darling feverishly awaits the premiere of his play, his partner Eric Glass spends time with his acquaintance Walter. His conversations with the 55-year-old take Eric back to a past which as a gay man in his early thirties he only knows from hearsay: the devastating AIDS epidemic that rocked the LGBTQ community at the beginning of the 1980s. 

New York City in the final months of the Obama Presidency. While the writer Toby Darling feverishly awaits the premiere of his play, his partner Eric Glass spends time with his acquaintance Walter. His conversations with the 55-year-old take Eric back to a past which as a gay man in his early thirties he only knows from hearsay: the devastating AIDS epidemic that rocked the LGBTQ community at the beginning of the 1980s.

In a new three-part series, members of the Residenztheater ensemble read new plays from Israel. The series begins with «Shura ( שׁוּרהָ ). The Craft of Identifying Life» by Roee Joseph, translated from Hebrew by Heiko Mönnich. After the massacre on 7 October, the author witnessed the identification of the bodies at the Shura military camp and wrote a moving documentary text about his experiences.

When Ann sees her for the first time, Sara is standing on the stage of the Heartship bar - as she does on the last Thursday of every month - and declaring war on the patriarchy with her furious stand-up performance. From that moment on, the rational ophthalmologist and single mum is fascinated by Sara's fearless manner. A connection develops between the two that goes beyond the conventions of romantic relationships or platonic friendships - a heartship.

Each playwright will be introduced to the audience during their residency. In the WELT/BÜHNE Salon, Residenztheater-actors will read the guests' latest texts, after which there will be an opportunity to get to know the authors and ask questions:  What role does theatre play in their home countries? What are the working conditions like? What is their fascination with theatre? But also: How do they view us and the German-speaking theatre landscape?

The Oktoberfest is a place of amusement and welcome distraction, even in the midst of the global economic crisis of the early 1930s. But it is a place that puts the love between Casimir, a redundant chauffeur, and Caroline, an office worker, to the test. In the world of the petit bourgeois, people seek comfort in alcoholic excess as the hour gets late and the chasms between them are revealed.  Horváth’s kaleidoscope of characters, whose monstrosity lies in their banality, shows the people of their time and how they are subject to economic necessity.

A UFO in the shape of a weisswurst lands in front of the Bayerische Staatskanzlei: is this a film or reality? The film maker and asphalt cowboy Klaus Lemke embarks together with a group of aliens on a high speed, madcap journey through Munich’s history in search of what the city once was and could perhaps be in future. Albert Ostermaier’s new play is an affectionate homage to the film poet Klaus Lemke, who died in 2022, and both a hymn to and reckoning with his home city of Munich.

When Pippi Langstrumpf moves into the abandoned Villa Villekulla, a whirlwind enters the lives of Annika and Tommy. Along with her monkey Mr Nilsson and her horse Little Old Man, Pippi turns the children’s lives upside down. With her charm and humour, the remarkable pirate’s daughter makes fools of anyone who tries to keep her in check, whether they are policemen, bandits or concerned neighbours – because she’s the strongest girl in the world!

Once a month, you have the opportunity to creatively explore a play from our program in the «Resi Workshop». In the two-hour workshop you will approach the respective production with text excerpts, playful exercises and improvisations.

The legendary musical «Cabaret» entices us into the dazzling world of the Kit Kat Club in the 1930s. Every night the enigmatic Sally Bowles thrills the audience with her famous song «Life is a Cabaret», a celebration of decadence and diversity. The young American Clifford Bradshaw is caught up in this intensely sensual world. Yet, at the same time, something dark is becoming an ever-stronger presence in the daily lives of these exuberant fun-lovers.

When Pippi Langstrumpf moves into the abandoned Villa Villekulla, a whirlwind enters the lives of Annika and Tommy. Along with her monkey Mr Nilsson and her horse Little Old Man, Pippi turns the children’s lives upside down. With her charm and humour, the remarkable pirate’s daughter makes fools of anyone who tries to keep her in check, whether they are policemen, bandits or concerned neighbours – because she’s the strongest girl in the world!

Judge Adam has a serious problem: not only does he have to cope with the severe effects of his nightly alcohol consumption, but also the sudden appearance of his superior Walter, who intends to take a close look at the administration of law in the provinces. Adam is forced to try a case publicly in court where he is obliged to investigate himself, which uses all the means at his disposal to conceal. Kleist’s disturbing comedy turns into an investigative drama about a veritable legal scandal.

A UFO in the shape of a weisswurst lands in front of the Bayerische Staatskanzlei: is this a film or reality? The film maker and asphalt cowboy Klaus Lemke embarks together with a group of aliens on a high speed, madcap journey through Munich’s history in search of what the city once was and could perhaps be in future. Albert Ostermaier’s new play is an affectionate homage to the film poet Klaus Lemke, who died in 2022, and both a hymn to and reckoning with his home city of Munich.

Die Theaterführung für Rollstuhlfahrer macht die Welt hinter den Kulissen des Residenztheaters erfahrbar und lädt exklusiv auf die Bühne und die Unterbühne ein.

Oedipus, the lead candidate of a new political movement, is as good as assured of election victory. But why are the circumstances of his predecessor’s fatal road traffic accident classified? And what is the fake news regarding his origins about? Oedipus starts to investigate – despite all the warnings. As in his updating of Schnitzler’s «The Doctor», Robert Icke has radically translated a theatre classic into the present. Icke’s «Oedipus» looks behind the myth and is both a family tragedy and a political thriller.

Successful playwright Lot Vekemans hits the nerve of the times with her new play. With great sensitivity, she tells the story of a father and daughter, played by Manfred Zapatka and Juliane Köhler, who have seemingly irreconcilable attitudes to social and political issues, and asks how these conflicts can be overcome.

In Peter Weiss’ boundary breaking drama, two champions of excess disillusioned with the French Revolution meet: Marat v. de Sade. A debate between Marat, the advocate of terror, and the Marquis de Sade, the libertine, about the all-important question of whether change is at all possible. And if so, at what price? And by what means? «Marat/Sade» is a spectacle of transition, of changing times and of doubt.

For her first production at the Residenztheater, the director Rieke Süßkow, renowned for the thoroughly composed aesthetic of her work, has chosen the last drama of the great Spanish writer Federico García Lorca. Its protagonist Bernarda Alba is a widow who declares eight years of mourning after the death of her husband and turns her house into a form of prison for her five daughters while unquestioningly accepting the patriarchal system of provincial Spain.

Successful playwright Lot Vekemans hits the nerve of the times with her new play. With great sensitivity, she tells the story of a father and daughter, played by Manfred Zapatka and Juliane Köhler, who have seemingly irreconcilable attitudes to social and political issues, and asks how these conflicts can be overcome.

Oedipus, the lead candidate of a new political movement, is as good as assured of election victory. But why are the circumstances of his predecessor’s fatal road traffic accident classified? And what is the fake news regarding his origins about? Oedipus starts to investigate – despite all the warnings. As in his updating of Schnitzler’s «The Doctor», Robert Icke has radically translated a theatre classic into the present. Icke’s «Oedipus» looks behind the myth and is both a family tragedy and a political thriller.

Freddie Mercury, front man of the legendary British rock band Queen, spent a lot of time in Munich from 1979 to 1985. He lived in several apartments here, forged close friendships and recorded his first solo album. What drew him to the Isar? Love, the wild nightlife and the many meeting points of the city’s gay community? The Musicland Studios of Giorgio Moroder and their pioneering innovations in electronic music? Or did he simply want to avoid the rigid British tax laws?

A prince of fashion and a fairy-tale king. A bird of paradise and a cult figure. A Munich original and a philanthropist. During the course of his lifetime, Rudolph Moshammer was given countless of these nicknames and soubriquets. Everyone recognized him as an eccentric with his dog Daisy on his arm, a talk show guest and man of society. Like his role model, Bavaria’s fairy-tale king Ludwig II, he loved glamour, opulence, and excess. In his appearances as an actor and in advertisements, as a singer in the preliminary round for the Eurovision Song Contest and with books like «Mama und ich» (Mama and Me), he became a cult figure and his fashion boutique «Carnaval de Venise» in Maximilianstraße became a cult address and place of pilgrimage for Mosi fans.

After many years, Gregers returns to his home country. His father, a successful entrepreneur, offers him the opportunity to join the company management, from which he has to retire for health reasons. Gregers refuses and at the same time learns that his father is secretly financially supporting the family of his old friend Hjalmar Ekdal, who lives in the most modest of circumstances, and becomes suspicious. Why is the capitalist suddenly showing himself to be a philanthropist? In his tragedy, Henrik Ibsen shows how the capitalist system has a direct impact on the private sphere and undermines social cohesion. The Norwegian Johannes Holmen Dahl, one of the most sought-after directors in Scandinavia, is now staging his German debut with a major work by his famous compatriot.

In seinem Roman «Wolf» erzählt Saša Stanišić eine Geschichte über Freundschaft, Zugehörigkeit und Courage und stellt die Frage, was es bedeutet, anders zu sein. Kemi wird von seiner Mutter in ein Ferienlager im Wald verbannt. Seinen Schlafplatz muss er sich mit Jörg teilen, einem Außenseiter, der noch weniger dazuzugehören scheint und noch dazu von seinen Mitschüler*innen «andersiger» gemacht wird. Geplagt von Mücken, übermotivierten Betreuer*innen und fiesen Spielereien der anderen Jugendlichen versuchen die beiden, die Zeit zu überstehen. Doch dann taucht nachts auch noch der Wolf auf und Kemi wird auf die Probe gestellt: Zieht er sich weiter zurück oder findet er den Mut, sich zu wehren?

Judge Adam has a serious problem: not only does he have to cope with the severe effects of his nightly alcohol consumption, but also the sudden appearance of his superior Walter, who intends to take a close look at the administration of law in the provinces. Adam is forced to try a case publicly in court where he is obliged to investigate himself, which uses all the means at his disposal to conceal. Kleist’s disturbing comedy turns into an investigative drama about a veritable legal scandal.

Only recently rediscovered, «Recitatif» is a literary sensation: the only short story by the winner of the Nobel Prize for Literature Toni Morrison. In it, two young women meet: Roberta and Twyla, both from poor backgrounds, meet in an orphanage and become friends. They are repeatedly brought together by chance, and we learn about their men, their jobs and their children in a series of snapshots. In the end they stand on opposite sides of a protest against racial segregation. But the author leaves open which of the two is white and which is Black.