'The constitutional court is easy to crack': the threats to German democracy go on stage by Philip Oltermann

Legal journalist Maximilian Steinbeis's play A Citizen of the People shows how easy it could be for a party like AfD to upend the country's 75-year-old democracy A smile so sweet it will mel…

SOURCE: The Guardian at 7:06am on November 27, 2024☆⚑

Glued to Hitler: what Brecht's overlooked collages tell us about how fascism takes hold by Philip Oltermann

Throughout his life, the great German playwright made punky montages that explored how Nazism infested the country he had to flee. Why have they taken so long to come to light? Bertolt Brec…

SOURCE: The Guardian at 4:24am on June 12, 2024☆⚑

Bring on the naked rollerskating nuns! The wild visions of Florentina Holzinger by Philip Oltermann

Live tattooing, non-simulated sex, flesh hook body hoisting and an ejaculating helicopter " these are commonplace in the astonishing shows of Europe's hottest director. But is her latest jus…

SOURCE: The Guardian at 12:18am on June 10, 2024☆⚑

Why is the prompter strolling around the stage? Meet the secret heroes of German theatre by Philip Oltermann

The souffleur has all but vanished, except in Germany, where they sit in the front row " or even take to the stage. As actors are placed under huge pressure, does this really make drama more…

SOURCE: The Guardian at 12:25pm on September 26, 2023☆⚑

Wired up: East Berlin thriller makes National Theatre a surveillance centre by Philip Oltermann

Ella Hickson's radical new play asks its audience to spy on the lives of a nation gripped by revolutionary promise The National Theatre's Dorfman stage is to be transformed into a gigantic s…

SOURCE: The Guardian at 9:18am on May 16, 2019☆⚑

SS-GB's Lars Eidinger: 'I worry that people only see a tiny fragment of my talent' by Philip Oltermann

The great German stage actor is thrilling new audiences with SS-GB and Personal Shopper. Our writer talks menace and murder with him over schnitzel in BerlinWhen Lars Eidinger first appeared…

SOURCE: The Guardian at 3:18am on March 23, 2017☆⚑

'The Brandenburg Beckett': last living link with German theatre's golden age by Philip Oltermann

He has been called 'the German Orson Welles' and carries the torch of political theatre lit by Bertolt Brecht. As Edinburgh prepares to stage Man to Man, his play about a woman forced to pas…

SOURCE: The Guardian at 12:31pm on December 1, 2016☆⚑

Revolt at the Volksbühne: behind the scenes at Berlin's troubled theatre by Philip Oltermann

The Volksbühne, designed to bring art to the working classes, has its own workshop to 'build things you cannot buy'. This curiosity shop of props is at the heart of the row over Chris Derco…

SOURCE: The Guardian at 11:24am on December 1, 2016☆⚑

Stranger things: Albert Camus' enigmatic outsider hits Berlin by Philip Oltermann

The Schaubühne is staging the absurdist classic with three actors sharing the main role. Director Philipp Preuss reflects on what 'otherness' means in societyAustrian director Philipp Preus…

SOURCE: The Guardian at 7:54am on November 25, 2016☆⚑

'The Brandenburg Beckett': last living link with German theatre's golden age by Philip Oltermann

He has been called 'the German Orson Welles' and carries the torch of political theatre lit by Bertolt Brecht. As Edinburgh prepares to stage Man to Man, his play about a woman forced to pas…

SOURCE: The Guardian at 2:07pm on August 3, 2015☆⚑

Katie Mitchell, British theatre's true auteur, on being embraced by Europe by Philip Oltermann

Has Britain thrown away its best theatre director? On the set of her daring new show, Katie Mitchell talks about being raved about everywhere but at homeA 1940s New York train carriage sits …

SOURCE: The Guardian at 3:00am on July 9, 2014☆⚑

What's German for funny? by Philip Oltermann

What makes Germans laugh " and why is it so different from what amuses the British? The answer may lie in a slapstick English comedy that became a TV favourite in GermanyThe sketch is called…

SOURCE: The Guardian at 3:00pm on February 12, 2012☆⚑