Productions to showcase variety of German theater offerings

Waiting for Godot by Deutsches Theater Berlin will help Chinese audiences better know German theater. [Photo provided to China Daily]

"Through theater, we want to talk about how people, especially the younger generation, deal with social changes and how to get accustomed to these changes."

Berliner Theatertreffen, first held in 1964, is one of most important cultural events in German-speaking countries. Each May, at Berliner Theatertreffen, 10 works are selected from more than 400 new productions in the previous season and staged in Berlin.

For the performances in China, a jury comprising three Chinese and two Germans－including Shen Lin, director of the Drama Institute of the Central Academy of Drama; Yvonne Budenholzer, director of Berliner Theatertreffen, and Oberender－was formed to select three works.

Explaining how the works were chosen, Jiang Tao, deputy director of the program department of the National Center for the Performing Arts, which is the Beijing venue staging the three productions, says: "The (three) German theater works are not well-known to Chinese audiences. By choosing these works, which include contemporary plays and new interpretations of classical pieces, we hope to show the uniqueness and variety of the German theater scene. We want to establish a long-term plan to bring German dramas to China."

One of the productions is Common Ground by Maxim Gorki Theater, directed by the theater's in-house director, Yael Ronen.

Hailing from a theater family and considered as one of the most exciting theater directors of her generation, Ronen tells the story of the younger generation and immigrants from the former Yugoslavia.

"When we started (working on the play), we had no idea where we were heading. Many of the actors came to Berlin from Belgrade and Sarajevo. We developed the play together, which was based on a trip to Bosnia," says Ronen.

One of the actors performing in Common Ground is Dejan Bucin, who was born in 1985 in Belgrade, now capital of Serbia.

Speaking of his experience with the play, Bucin says: "We rarely talk about our family's experiences, which is taboo. During the process of producing this play, we built trust with the director and the actors. The theater then becomes a safe space to discuss things like guilt and atonement, forgiveness and forgetting.

"Typically, we play different roles on stage, which are about other people's lives. But with Common Ground, we tell our own stories. It is an unconventional experience."

If you go

7:30 pm, June 29-July 4. Shanghai Daning Theater, 1222 Pingxingguan Road, Jing'an district, Shanghai. 021-3636-8807.

7:30 pm, July 8-9. National Center for the Performing Arts, 2 West Chang'an Avenue, Xicheng district, Beijing.

010-6655-0000.