Utopia or adaptation?

Until 1989 theatres in communist East Germany were venues of political debate and discussion. Every dramatic line or musical verse could have had a double meaning or carried a political message. While state-run newspapers, radio and television broadcasters resisted the increasing calls for public debate on the condition of East German society, the theatres were able to engage in this discussion more or less openly. But as the media began to embrace this task more readily in the months after autumn 1989, theatres and other cultural institutions were forced to reassess what their place was and should be in the newly forming German republic. At this discussion event, the participants will address how the cultural mission of theatre and its dialogue with society have changed over the past decades.

Podium discussion with Torsten Ibs and others. Funded by the Foundation for the Reappraisal of the SED Dictatorship and the ASA-FF e.V.