Young people from many countries made their way to Berlin's Theatertreffen festival - and not only as part of the audience, writes Christine Madden.
In Berlin, theatre is the new rock'n'roll. Scanning the jammed houses at the city's recent Theatertreffen, one of Germany's largest and most important theatre festivals, you'll notice that the average age of audience members seems to be around 28 to 32.
The festival's name - which means theatre meeting or get-together - lends it that funky, informal aura while accurately describing what it seeks to accomplish. Fans turned out in large numbers for the 11 productions selected from the huge range produced each year by Germany's 160 state-funded theatres.
"We strive to show the important productions," says festival director Iris Laufenberg. "Not only the current trends, but also what's hip at the moment."
One night it's "disgust theatre", with a production of Macbeth that in its first 30 minutes has the actors vomiting, urinating, defecating and bleeding all over the stage. Then it's a slick production of a new work, Dunkel Lockende Welt, in which a tenant tangos across the boards with her landlord, hoping to divert his attention from her cannibalism as she flirts with him in a parody of murder mystery TV. A production of Chekhov's Ivanov has no set other than a constantly billowing plume of smoke, expertly manipulated by technicians, as the actors hide, disappear and reappear through the haze.
A piece of documentary theatre, in which actors present a recent historical incident, has a new twist, with non-actors arriving on stage to enact their real-life present-day scenario, one that mirrors the story and suffering of a German Sturm und Drang classic.
"We try to be a bit like a seismograph," says Laufenberg. "What parts of the society can we discover on our stages?"
The selection attracts a youthful following, but not only as an audience. One of the many ancillary programmes offered by the festival, the International Forum, invites young theatre professionals from all over the world to take part in a two-week crash course of workshops, seminars and other events parallel to the theatre productions.
"It seemed like a tangible way to learn about German theatre," says Hilary O'Shaughnessy, co-founder and artistic director of Cork's Playgroup, who secured a place among the 55 participants of the festival's International Forum.
Only by chance, through a friend, did O'Shaughnessy find out about the programme. Unknown here, the International Forum is regarded as "legendary in the German theatre sector", explains its director, Uwe Gössel. It has offered educational and networking opportunities to young, up-and-coming members of the theatre community for 42 years, and many of German theatre's leading lights once got their start there.
The participants, who came from 19 countries, got the chance to explore and discuss new directions in theatre and how they apply - or how to apply them - to their lives. They chose between four workshops - concept, body, music and theory - for the morning sessions, while the afternoon seminars were an opportunity to get to know each other. Over the two weeks of the Theatertreffen, each had to give a small speech on a topic of his or her choice.
Some sessions opened more general discussions about such questions as "how did I become what I am?" and "what do I work in theatre for?". Additionally, the seminars brought in theatrical talents, such as director Thomas Ostermeier and writer/director Falk Richter, for question-and-answer sessions.
"The discussions are very unpretentious," says Gössel. "Because it's not a production, because everyone's been working together, the competition's gone. The sessions are very open and accessible."
O'Shaughnessy concurs. "I couldn't have imagined a situation where a dialogue was more open and fruitful," she says. The format also enabled O'Shaughnessy to "meet 40 people effortlessly instead of having to introduce myself, because we all did it already in the open session".
Later, when they met in the hotel dining room over breakfast, they could "get straight into it. There is a huge amount of people planning to meet each other after the festival is over - it's just great".
Also at the festival a team of emerging writers and critics assembled to produce a Theatertreffen newspaper, with previews, critiques and commentary, which was circulated at the events and as an insert in the Berliner Zeitung. And the Talentetreffen (talent get-together), a new addition this year, gave the public the chance to access information about development and funding, as well as providing a sounding board for the festival.
"This knowledge about funding possibilities is bartered about like a currency," remarks Gössel, who also directed this programme. But "it's doable. You just have to overcome your inhibitions - and we can help you do that. When everyone gets together, a new consciousness emerges: you know you're not alone, and that the others aren't the enemy".
The festival, O'Shaughnessy believes, makes every attempt to reach out and to reflect its audience.
"It's all designed to get people talking," she says, "and exchange work on all levels - there's no hierarchy going on. The directors want to know what's working, what's not - and look at the participants and think: 'They are the future of German theatre.' They want to know where we're going, where we're at. I genuinely, honestly think it could not be better."
