Schedule

Inspired by William Shakespeare’s tragedy of Timon of Athens, «Tremens» is an immersive experience combining theatre with social Virtual Reality. The audience is invited to question familiar patterns of thought – and to use Virtual Reality goggles to experience the Residenztheater foyer as a space in which the overwhelming convergence of theatrical assertion and virtual boundlessness opens new perspectives on the present.

Inspired by William Shakespeare’s tragedy of Timon of Athens, «Tremens» is an immersive experience combining theatre with social Virtual Reality. The audience is invited to question familiar patterns of thought – and to use Virtual Reality goggles to experience the Residenztheater foyer as a space in which the overwhelming convergence of theatrical assertion and virtual boundlessness opens new perspectives on the present.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

Austrian playwright Ewald Palmetshofer translates Shakespeare's royal drama «King Henry IV» into the present day of eroding democracies with sophisticated language and defiant humour.

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.

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.

«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 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.

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.

Still not had enough of the theatre evening? Why don't you stay? The «Night Salon» with Felicia Chin-Malenski and Jan Remmers invites you to exchange ideas, round off the evening and enjoy some surprises.

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.

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.

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».

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 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».

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.

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 theatre tour in German sign language explains the history of the building and provides insights into the numerous theatre professions and their work processes on and behind the stage.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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».

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».

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.

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.

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 Australian writer and director Simon Stone took Chekhov’s famous play as the starting point for his rewriting – voted «Play of the Year 2017» in «Theater heute» magazine – that combines rapid fire dialogue, subtle character studies and the ambivalence that arises from them while locating the play thematically in the here and now.

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».

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.

«Yes - No», «Light - Dark», «There - Away», «Breakfast or not», «War or not» - author Nele Stuhler has collected lists of opposites that question the depths of everyday life as well as the very big world situation and put them into poem form. A poetic and highly comical concert of contradictions performed by three actors on an open stage.

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.

What happens with dementia and how can we deal with this phenomenon? Director Anna Karasińska and journalist Jürgen Berger explore the disease in a poetic evening of theatre that highlights the fragility of human existence and our basic assumptions of identity. Their search for clues leads them to a dementia village in Thailand, where care is provided in a completely different way to that in German care homes.

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».

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.

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.

22 voices talk about their mothers, becoming a mother, being a mother, never wanting to become a mother or not wanting to become a mother and not being able to become a mother. They intertwine to create a piece about decisions, doubts, (miscarriages) births, cancellations, transformations and courageous actions.

The Australian writer and director Simon Stone took Chekhov’s famous play as the starting point for his rewriting – voted «Play of the Year 2017» in «Theater heute» magazine – that combines rapid fire dialogue, subtle character studies and the ambivalence that arises from them while locating the play thematically in the here and now.

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.

«Yes - No», «Light - Dark», «There - Away», «Breakfast or not», «War or not» - author Nele Stuhler has collected lists of opposites that question the depths of everyday life as well as the very big world situation and put them into poem form. A poetic and highly comical concert of contradictions performed by three actors on an open stage.

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.