Diskothek 2023/24
Diskothek
Diskothek: A space for reflecting on our present times, a space for experimenting with new texts and thoughts. The venue of Schauspiel Leipzig dedicated to contemporary drama.
Invitations to the three major festivals for contemporary drama and the theatre prize DER FAUST in the category of “Theatre performer for a young audience” – these are some of the gratifying results of the past season at Diskothek, along with many sold out performances.
Five new premieres, three of them commissioned by Schauspiel Leipzig, will take Diskothek further along its path into the midst of stories that focus on the present times while at the same time tracing crucial decisions from the past.
Longing is an open country, as a famous Austrian author might have said a hundred years ago. Italian author Giorgio Ferretti follows a young man’s tracking his longing and meaning of life all the way to “America”. America is the central metaphor which constantly changes its appearance and meaning. In itself, Ferretti’s text, which received the 2022 “exil playwrights’ prize” of WIENER WORTSTAETTEN, is not just a scenic but also a choreographic sketch. The Swiss choreographer and theatre maker Salome Schneebeli will stage the world premiere, her first production at Diskothek.
Wolfram Höll’s “Niederwald” is the author’s third commissioned work at Diskothek. History and present times overlap in this text; in a Swiss mountain village, modern times and tradition meld into a long, uninterrupted Now. Elsa-Sophie Jach will stage the world premiere as her second production at Diskothek.
Emre Akal also returns to Diskothek: Akal’s text “Hotel Pink Lulu – Die Ersatzwelt” celebrated its world premiere here in 2020; now it is followed by “Goldie. Ein digitales Requiem”. Akal explores the question of how our life extends at times from the analogue world into the virtual sphere – or how both can be blurred into each other. The text was commissioned by Diskothek and this time, Emre Akal will also direct the production.
Who among us knows that Beethoven’s famous Kreutzer Sonata should really be called Bridgetower Sonata – and that it was actually supposed to carry that title? Violinist Kreutzer never played the sonata at all; the performer of the successful premiere was George Bridgetower. His Afro-European parents were employed at the court of Nikolaus I, Prince Esterházy, where the young Bridgetower studied with Joseph Haydn. Later, he was a violinist in the orchestra of George Augustus Frederick, the Prince of Wales, before setting out to meet Beethoven in Vienna. In her text, British author Amanda Wilkin looks at a musician and a piece of musical history that have been forgotten – and she explores the obstacles and tipping points that occur in society, in the past as well as today. The world premiere production will be developed at Schauspiel Leipzig in co-operation with Stückemarkt of Berliner Festspiele, the first work of both the author and director Adewale Teodros Adebisi at this theatre.
Following “Die Leiden des jungen Azzlack” and “Anouk & Adofa”, Marco Damghani returns to Diskothek for his third production here. Together with the members of the Schauspielstudio, he will set out to trace developments since German reunification: With Hendrik Bolz’ “Nullerjahre”, they will try to find out how the generation of twenty-year-olds feel about political changes and social transformations over the past twenty years and how they are experiencing them right now.
Productions including “Anouk & Adofa”, “zwei herren von real madrid” or “Letzte Station Torgau” remain in our repertory and mark the whole range of topics, approaches and ways of performing that Diskothek and contemporary drama have to offer, both theatrical and real. And in the spring of 2024, a new edition of the festival 4+1 will give an impression of how emerging literary artist see and continue these developments.
Invitations to the three major festivals for contemporary drama and the theatre prize DER FAUST in the category of “Theatre performer for a young audience” – these are some of the gratifying results of the past season at Diskothek, along with many sold out performances.
Five new premieres, three of them commissioned by Schauspiel Leipzig, will take Diskothek further along its path into the midst of stories that focus on the present times while at the same time tracing crucial decisions from the past.
Longing is an open country, as a famous Austrian author might have said a hundred years ago. Italian author Giorgio Ferretti follows a young man’s tracking his longing and meaning of life all the way to “America”. America is the central metaphor which constantly changes its appearance and meaning. In itself, Ferretti’s text, which received the 2022 “exil playwrights’ prize” of WIENER WORTSTAETTEN, is not just a scenic but also a choreographic sketch. The Swiss choreographer and theatre maker Salome Schneebeli will stage the world premiere, her first production at Diskothek.
Wolfram Höll’s “Niederwald” is the author’s third commissioned work at Diskothek. History and present times overlap in this text; in a Swiss mountain village, modern times and tradition meld into a long, uninterrupted Now. Elsa-Sophie Jach will stage the world premiere as her second production at Diskothek.
Emre Akal also returns to Diskothek: Akal’s text “Hotel Pink Lulu – Die Ersatzwelt” celebrated its world premiere here in 2020; now it is followed by “Goldie. Ein digitales Requiem”. Akal explores the question of how our life extends at times from the analogue world into the virtual sphere – or how both can be blurred into each other. The text was commissioned by Diskothek and this time, Emre Akal will also direct the production.
Who among us knows that Beethoven’s famous Kreutzer Sonata should really be called Bridgetower Sonata – and that it was actually supposed to carry that title? Violinist Kreutzer never played the sonata at all; the performer of the successful premiere was George Bridgetower. His Afro-European parents were employed at the court of Nikolaus I, Prince Esterházy, where the young Bridgetower studied with Joseph Haydn. Later, he was a violinist in the orchestra of George Augustus Frederick, the Prince of Wales, before setting out to meet Beethoven in Vienna. In her text, British author Amanda Wilkin looks at a musician and a piece of musical history that have been forgotten – and she explores the obstacles and tipping points that occur in society, in the past as well as today. The world premiere production will be developed at Schauspiel Leipzig in co-operation with Stückemarkt of Berliner Festspiele, the first work of both the author and director Adewale Teodros Adebisi at this theatre.
Following “Die Leiden des jungen Azzlack” and “Anouk & Adofa”, Marco Damghani returns to Diskothek for his third production here. Together with the members of the Schauspielstudio, he will set out to trace developments since German reunification: With Hendrik Bolz’ “Nullerjahre”, they will try to find out how the generation of twenty-year-olds feel about political changes and social transformations over the past twenty years and how they are experiencing them right now.
Productions including “Anouk & Adofa”, “zwei herren von real madrid” or “Letzte Station Torgau” remain in our repertory and mark the whole range of topics, approaches and ways of performing that Diskothek and contemporary drama have to offer, both theatrical and real. And in the spring of 2024, a new edition of the festival 4+1 will give an impression of how emerging literary artist see and continue these developments.
