Lecture series in the winter semester 2025/26

The eclipse of the world on stage or: Where is the light?

"Have we lost sight of the goal?", "In any case, the world is changing rapidly.", "Many things are confusing, it seems to me that it wasn't like this before.", "Perhaps our memory is deceptive.", "Yes, perhaps, but we could also be at the beginning of a dark age." characters on a stage could say. There were eras in history when people looked to the future with confidence, but there were also eras when they watched what was happening before their eyes with fear. We are experiencing such a time today, people are asking questions and so is art. "It is our responsibility to show what kind of world we want," says Sonja Anders, the new artistic director of the Thalia Theater. She talks about the "anarchic energy of humor", and Karin Beier, the director of the Schauspielhaus, says that we can "discover a great power in the imponderable space of the imagination". On a stage, everything is a sign, everything has to be interpreted, the audience's imagination is guided along a path by the production, but it remains free. The recently deceased dramaturge Carl Hegemann was of the opinion that it was the task of the theater to make the "darkness that blinds us" visible. By this he meant that things should appear that may be frightening, but which open up a new perspective on the world. And that gives strength. Using the example of current productions on Hamburg's stages, the lectures will show when and how this succeeds. Two theater visits followed by a discussion are part of the event.

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Lecture held on 17.05.2018, title: "Art in the stranglehold of power".

To the lecture: click here