Author: CO International

VOLKSVERNICHTUNG ODER MEINE LEBER IST SINNLOS
A Radical Comedy by Werner Schwab

Directed by Fritzi Wartenberg

After her phenomenal success with ELISABETH!, Fritzi Wartenburg now stages Schwab’s radical comedy at the Burgtheater.

‘Frenetic applause for this model example of a Schwab production.’ – DER STANDARD

‘In her production, Fritzi Wartenberg has brought out something else that was often overlooked in the past: the terrible plight of all these despicable characters. And that is art.’ – Die Presse

The premiere took place on October, 18 2025 at the Akademietheater.

Additional performance dates:
21./30. Oktober 2025
03./10. November 2025

MACBETH by William Shakespeare

Text adaptation and direction: Marius von Mayenburg

In his newly dramatised version of Shakespeare’s play, director and playwright Marius von Mayenburg creates an apocalyptic and dystopian world centred around the serial killer Macbeth for the Norwegian stage.

The premiere will take place on October 17, 2025 at 6 p.m. at the Nationtheatret (Hovedscenen) in Oslo.

BETWEEN THE RIVER AND THE SEA

by and with Yousef Sweid
Director + Co-Author: Isabella Sedlak
Produced by  Maxim Gorki Theater Berlin

Palestinian-Israeli actor Yousef Sweid dives into the chaos of identity, truth, and family life in Between The River And The Sea. Raised as a Christian-Arab kid in Haifa, now raising two Jewish-Arab kids in Berlin, he unpacks his in-between-ness – where contradictions clash and slogans fail. With biting humour and raw honesty, Sweid weaves personal stories, political reflection, and absurd everyday moments into a sharp, unflinching solo performance.

BETWEEN THE RIVER AND THE SEA will be shown as part of steirischer herbst ’25 on October 12, 2025 in Graz (Dom im Berg, Schloßbergplatz).

Ayad Akhtar & Daniel Kehlmann: Art, AI and the Stories We Tell
Moderated by Jeffrey Goldberg

On March 5, 2025 at 8:00 p.m. at Deutsches Theater Berlin.
Welcome remarks by Daniel Benjamin, President, American Academy in Berlin; Karla Mäder, Head of Dramaturgy, Deutsches Theater Berlin.

What is the role of art in an age of technological change? How does artificial intelligence change the way we create and understand stories? Pulitzer Prize-winning author and playwright Ayad Akhtar and acclaimed German author Daniel Kehlmann discuss the intersection of art, technology and human experience.
Also, in his latest play MCNEAL (European premiere on March 1, 2025 at the Burgtheater Vienna) Ayad Akhtar explores these questions and reflects on topics such as authenticity, power and morality. Read more about the production DER FALL MCNEAL here.

The conversation is held in English without German translation.
Tickets

JEEPS by Nora Abdel-Maksoud
Directed by: Fritzi Wartenberg

The job center has a new assignment: with the help of an inheritance lottery, assets are expropriated and passed on to those in need, all in the name of an equal society! Here, in the overcrowded waiting room of such a job center, the long-term unemployed Maude meets Silke – and a surprising complicity begins.

With JEEPS, Nora Abdel-Maksoud addresses the topic of equal opportunities and social justice and uses humor to question a system which seemingly keeps on reproducing privileges and disadvantages.

The premiere takes place on February 26, 2025 at 8:00 p.m. at Schauspiel Köln (Depot 2)
Dates & tickets

MCNEAL (dt. DER FALL MCNEAL)
by Ayad Akhtar
German translation: Daniel Kehlmann
Director: Jan Bosse
Starring Joachim Meyerhoff as Jacob McNeal

Jacob McNeal is a successful, unscrupulous writer almost manically hoping to win the Nobel Prize for Literature. His liver is failing, his son is threatening him with a public scandal and his fascination with artificial intelligence could shut down his career.
In his new play, Ayad Akhtar questions the machinations of the literary world and the influence of AI on his profession as a writer and reflects on the issues of greed, power and intellectual appropriation.

The European premiere will take place on March 1, 2025 at 7:30 p.m. at Burgtheater Vienna statt.
Information & tickets

SIRENS CALL
Directors, screenplay: Lina Sieckmann & Miri Ian Gossing
Production: filmfaust
DE, NL, 121 min, 2025

In their feature-length debut, Miri Ian Gossing and Lina Sieckmann dive into the merfolk subculture with performance artist and mermaid Una. Genre elements, fiction and documentary, self-care, political activism and self-chosen identities flow into one another.
Dates & tickets

“Hysteria” is the name of the film that knocked many out of their seats at the Berlinale. And finally catapults its director and author Mehmet Akif Büyükatalay into the ranks of the most exciting young cinema talents.“ – Carolin Ströbele, ZEIT (quote orig. in German)

HYSTERIA
Director, screenplay: Mehmet Akif Büyükatalay
Production: filmfaust
105 min, DE, 2025

When a burned Quran is found on a film set, the shoot takes a dark turn and the crew are thrown into turmoil. Caught in the crossfire, an intern, Elif, is drawn into a dangerous game of secrets, accusations and lies…
Dates & tickets

EGAL / ELLEN BABIĆ
by Marius von Mayenburg
Director: Thomas Jonigk

Double premiere on February 15, 2025 at Burgtheatre Vienna (Akademietheater)

EGAL
Dates & tickets

 

ELLEN BABIĆ
Dates & tickets

BIRTH FACTORY – an interdisciplinary concert performance about giving birth and being born
as part of the Schall-und-Rausch-Festival of the Komische Oper Berlin

Between intimacy and social appropriation: together with musicians Peter Florian Berndt (lute, electronics) and Dominik Tremel (harpsichord, electronics), Anke Retzlaff (viola da gamba, performance) embarks on a radically sensual journey with texts by Kathrin Liess and testimonials from women in childbirth to explore one of the most primal themes: birth. On the border between club night and performance, baroque and electronics, text and original sound, pregnant bodies become a dance floor for society.

February 14, 2025 at 8:30 p.m.  &  February 16, 2025 at 9:00 p.m.
In SchwuZ Queer Club, Rollbergstraße 26,12053 Berlin