Let's imagine the following: The economic miracle after the Second World War took place not in Germany, but in Turkey, and German guest workers helped to rebuild Turkey. It was not Bonn that welcomed the new arrivals, but Istanbul. With a strikingly simple reversal of perspective and based on their own family experiences and questions they ask themselves about home and arrival, director Selen Kara, author Akın Emanuel Şipal and musician Torsten Kindermann tell the tragicomic life story of Bonn guest worker Klaus Gruber in the foreign and dazzling metropolis in ISTANBUL. In the 1960s, he had to leave behind his wife, children and his beloved football club, 1. FC Köln, and came to a country whose language was foreign to him. His wife Luise and children soon followed him. Initial difficulties were gradually overcome, and the family settled in. At some point, the children spoke Turkish better than German. The family settles into the vibrant city. Yet, a conflict remains: Klaus continues to build the house in Bonn he's been saving up for in Istanbul, even though he no longer seriously intends to return to Germany with his family. Between workbenches, bazaars, the vibrant nightlife, and teahouses (none of which serves hand-brewed filter coffee), we experience everyday life as an expat in German scenes, while the longing for happiness, love, and home is sung in Turkish. The focus is on the songs of Sezen Aksu, the queen of Turkish pop, who have accompanied three generations of Turkish society around the world.

EPSG:4326

Istanbul

Schauspielhaus Bad Godesberg

The Russian writer Mikhail Bulgakov  sits disillusioned in his apartment in 1938 Moscow. His plays have been removed from the schedules by the Soviet authorities, and the publication of his novels has been banned. Then the Vakhtangov Theater commissions him to adapt Miguel Cervantes ' DON QUIXOTE for the stage. Alonso Quijano sits just as dejectedly in his village of La Mancha, spending his time reading chivalric novels and losing himself in their ideals. He names himself Don Quixote and sets out to pursue the stories from his books. His companion and armor-bearer, Sancho Panza, dubs him the "Knight of the Sorrowful Countenance." Traveling on an old nag and a donkey, they aim to "restore to the world the irretrievably lost justice," free a supposed princess, and fight giants in the form of windmills.

Don Quixote

Werkstattbühne

Whoever has money has power. And whoever doesn't will find it difficult to build a fortune. This was already the case in 1837 in London's Soho or in Brecht's Berlin - and it is no different today. Life without capitalism is no longer imaginable, and in a self-corrupting system, everything has become a commodity - love, morality, and misery. Businessmen and the police are just as criminal and devoid of morals as criminals and beggars - there is no distinction between the bourgeoisie and the crooks. The top and the bottom of society merge seamlessly into one another. What connects them is money, and good business probably justifies any immoral behavior.

Timo Kählert

Events

Past events

Apr 17 - May 15, 2025

Istanbul · Theater Bonn

Apr 10 - May 24, 2025

Don Quixote · Theater Bonn

Future and recently performed repertoire

Brown, Chief Constable of London / Beggar in The Threepenny Opera by Weill

Theater Bonn

About

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