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Christoph Marthaler Returns to Berlin's Volksbühne with 'Wachs oder Wirklichkeit'

The celebrated Swiss director debuts a melancholic yet humorous exploration of reality and artifice inspired by a wax museum.

  • Christoph Marthaler's new production, 'Wachs oder Wirklichkeit,' premiered at the Volksbühne in Berlin, marking his first return to the iconic theater since 2016.
  • The play draws inspiration from the Panoptikum, Germany's oldest wax museum, blending lifelike wax figures with actors to explore themes of reality and artificiality.
  • The production features Marthaler's signature melancholic tone, interwoven with humor, music, and experimental texts by the late Swiss writer Jürg Laederach.
  • Anna Viebrock's stage design recreates the wax museum's aesthetic, creating an ambiguous space where the lines between reality and imitation blur.
  • The ensemble includes both long-time collaborators and new faces, delivering a poignant and reflective theatrical experience that examines life's fleeting nature.
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