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.