9 May 2022

“Grüber, Hölderlin, Marthaler: Into the Open”
The Akademie der Künste commemorates the director Klaus Michael Grüber with a colloquium and a guest performance

Colloquium 14 – 16 May 2022
Guest performance of the play Die Sorglosschlafenden, die Frischaufgeblühten
Directed by Christoph Marthaler, 16 – 17 May 2022
Akademie der Künste, Hanseatenweg

With a colloquium and the theatrical performance of Christoph Marthaler’s Hölderlin evening Die Sorglosschlafenden, die Frischaufgeblühten, the Akademie der Künste is commemorating the director Klaus Michael Grüber (1941–2008) from 14 to 17 May 2022. This tribute to one of the foremost theatre directors of the 20th century, “Grüber, Hölderlin, Marthaler: Into the Open”, establishes links between Grüber, director Christoph Marthaler and Friedrich Hölderlin. Some of Grüber’s most important works are dedicated to Hölderlin. Marthaler’s production Die Sorglosschlafenden, die Frischaufgeblühten is a quiet, musical homage to Grüber and Hölderlin. This production, like Marthaler’s productions in general, represents a continuation of Grüber’s profound and poetic theatre.
Grüber was a member of the Akademie der Künste, as has been Marthaler since 1997.

Invited to the colloquium are Akademie members and guests from France and Germany. The conversations, films and film clips of Grüber’s productions follow the recollections of “his” artists of his work and explore his theatre in the present day. Topics include the influence of Giorgio Strehler, Grüber’s work and his impact in France, his stage spaces, and his work with actors and actresses. Recordings of the productions Die Bakchen, Winterreise im Olympiastadion and Die Affäre Rue de Lourcine will be shown in addition to the documentary film L’homme de Passage by Christoph Rüter. The colloquium is being held in cooperation with Berlin’s Schaubühne.

With, among others, Michel Bataillon, David Bennent, Edith Clever, André Engel, Sylvester Groth, Ellen Hammer, Reinhild Hoffmann, Bernard Pautrat, Udo Samel, Bernard Sobel, Peter Simonischek, Klaus Völker, Angela Winkler and Martin Wuttke

Christoph Marthaler staged the play Die Sorglosschlafenden, die Frischaufgeblühten in commemoration of the 250th anniversary of Hölderlin’s birth in 2020 with texts by the poet and music by Bach, Beethoven, Schubert and others. The co-production of the Akademie der Künste with the Schauspielhaus Hamburg and the Schauspielhaus Zürich was premiered in Hamburg on 29 May 2021. The play featuring Josefine Israel, Sasha Rau, Lars Rudolph and Samuel Weiss from the ensemble of the Schauspielhaus Hamburg along with the musicians Bendix Dethleffsen and Martin Zeller will be performed at the Akademie on 16 and 17 May 2022.

Klaus Michael Grüber studied under Giorgio Strehler in Milan. He and Peter Stein had a major impact on the Schaubühne in the 20 years from 1972 onwards. From 1975 he also worked and lived in France. With such painters as Eduardo Arroyo, Gilles Aillaud and Antonio Recalcati, he sought and invented new locations for theatre: Faust he staged in Paris in 1975 in the chapel of the Hôpital de la Salpêtrière and Winterreise based on Hölderlin’s Hyperion in Berlin’s Olympic Stadium in 1977. An exact reading, a slow pace, a loss for words and an original, wholly idiosyncratic way of putting the texts onto the stage, coupled with bold views into extra-theatrical spaces, were characteristic of Grüber’s work. He wrote theatre history with his profound, poetic grasp of classical and modern texts and musical works.

The colloquium and guest performance are being sponsored by the Capital Cultural Fund.

Grüber, Hölderlin, Marthaler: Into the Open
Memories of Klaus Michael Grüber
14 – 17 May 2022
Akademie der Künste, Hanseatenweg 10, 10557 Berlin

Colloquium. Conversations and films
Saturday, 14 May – Monday, 16 May 2022
Conversations in German and French with simultaneous interpreting
Admission free, registration requested at rehberg@adk.de
Programme here

Guest performance of the Deutsches Schauspielhaus Hamburg

Christoph Marthaler: Die Sorglosschlafenden, die Frischaufgeblühten
Monday, 16 May and Tuesday, 17 May 2022, 8 pm
Director: Christoph Marthaler
Texts: Friedrich Hölderlin
Music: Bach, Beethoven, Schubert inter alia
Admission €28/22, ticket reservations: +49 (0)30 200 57-2000
Remaining tickets available online at: www.adk.de/tickets and at the box office on the night

Press tickets: enquiries to presse@adk.de 
Press contact: Brigitte Heilmann, tel. 030 200 57-1513, heilmann@adk.de