The City West theatre has pledged to remain open all summer – with two premieres and four shows. Photo: Michael Kohlhaas | Gianmarco Bresadola
Schaubühne is making up for lost time this summer by postponing its annual holiday and leaving its doors open. As if that wasn’t good enough news, they’re also offering discounts throughout so you can snag half-price tickets.
Kicking off July is the premiere of a staged reading of Heinrich von Kleist’s Michael Kohlhaas in cooperation with London’s Wayward Productions. Kleist’s 19th-century novella about a horse-dealer’s fanatical quest for justice is co-directed by Simon McBurney and Annabel Arden, of London’s Complicité theatre. Expect multimedia staging and strong performances to bring new life to the brutal, time-honoured piece, and ask yourself, “Do we need such people, or not?”
Another premiere is Simon Stone’s Yerma, which was a staggering success when it launched in 2017 at Young Vic Theatre London. Stone makes his debut at Schaubühne with a restaging of his triumphant adaptation of Federico García Lorca’s play and an all-German cast, including Caroline Peters as Yerma, a successful journalist who loses the plot in her desperate years-long quest for motherhood. If Stone is able to recreate what he did in London, this is definitely one to bookmark.
Later in August, Thomas Ostermeier pursues his exploration of social and gender violence through his adaptation of one of France’s hottest contemporary authors. Das Leben des Vernon Subutex 1 (The Life of Vernon Subutex 1) is the first part of lit sensation Virginie Despentes’ trilogy of novels, staged here as a series of monologues with rock interludes. Expect a raunchy odyssey lasting over four hours filled with existential debauchery and gallic sarcasm as Vernon, played by Joachim Meyerhoff, revolves around himself on Nina Wetzel’s revolving stage. If you ever wondered why Despentes was hailed the queer femisnist answer to Michel Houellebecq, here’s an opportunity to find out.
Finally, there’s Didier Eribon’s Rückkehr nach Reims (Returning to Reims) back with a brand-new cast, featuring rapper Amewu Nove, and Isabelle Redfern to fill Nina Hoss’s shoes.
Rückkehr nach Reims, Jul 3, 4, 9 and 10; Michael Kohlhaas, Jul 6, 8; Yerma, Aug 3 and 8; Das Leben des Vernon Subutex 1, Aug 25 and 27. German with English surtitles, Schaubühne, Charlottenburg.
