Lapidarium

The latest theatre text by Rainald Goetz 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 he has dedicated the play. And 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.   

Acclaimed as a radically honest observer of the now, the remarkable multi award-winning author Goetz now turns his attention to the past and the future: he recalls the beginning of his career and records legacies of exclusively male companions – in addition to those already named we also hear from Herbert Achternbusch, Josef «Sepp» Bierbichler, Albert Oehlen, Benjamin von Stuckrad-Barre and Michael Rutschky. And he also prepares for his own disappearance.  

This will be the first time that Rainald Goetz, born in Munich in 1954, will be performed at the Residenztheater. He has entrusted the world premiere of «Lapidarium» – the term refers to a collection of stone sculptures – to resident director Elsa-Sophie Jach. The play is the final part of a trilogy that began with «Im Reich des Todes» (world premiere 2020), an examination of the terrorism of 11 September, and was followed by «Baracke» (world premiere 2023), on the subject of terrorism by the NSU.

The world premiere of «Lapidarium» launches our focus in the 2025/2026 season on Munich’s colourful and moving history, which continues with a world premiere by Albert Ostermaier and a project about Freddie Mercury.