Producer
Leopold Hoesch
Director
Katharina Wenzel
Producer
Vera Bertram
Genre
Culture
Broadcaster
ZDFtheaterkanal / 3sat / ZDFdokukanal
Length
1 x 30'
Editor
Marek Weinhold
Year
2010
Theatrescapes
Deutsches Theater Göttingen

Göttingen - a city in the spirit of science. For centuries, people have been racking their brains over new theories at the historically rich university. 44 Nobel Prize winners come from Göttingen, and every third person studies or works at the university. A demanding audience - but Göttingen's Deutsches Theater is not intimidated by that.

In 1890, an imposing theater temple was inaugurated in Göttingen to finally bring the theater on a par with the university. But anyone who thinks science and culture are irreconcilable opposites is mistaken. In fact, a lively exchange quickly develops: young students try their hand at acting, music and theater scholars find a stage to implement their scientific discoveries. Like the scientist Oskar Hagen, who rediscovered Handel operas at the beginning of the 20th century and in this way founded the Göttingen Händel Festival, which is still popular today.

After the end of the Second World War, one or two theatergoers in Göttingen must have been surprised to hear a resounding "God save the Queen" before the performance instead of the usual stage murmur - the British occupiers had ordered the British national anthem to be played before every performance. Göttingen was given an anthem of a completely different kind 20 years later, when the French chanson singer Barbara immortalized the city in a song with her unmistakable accent.

In 1950, Hans Hilpert took up his post as artistic director and gave the house its present name. It is probably not only the people of Göttingen who will be grateful to him for a long time to come for fostering young acting talent. Götz George still remembers with great pleasure his first steps on the Göttingen theater stage and the family atmosphere that prevailed in Hilpert's ensemble at that time.

In 1968, Hilpert's successor Günther Fleckenstein openly criticizes the continuity of personnel that prevailed in many places after the Second World War with the premiere of Rolf Hochhuth's "Juristen". The play brought him international attention, and he became the first German director to stage the play at the Moscow Artists' Theater.

Like many of his predecessors, the current artistic director, Mark Zurmühle, is once again looking for an exchange with the university and, above all, promoting young talent. Will he come across such an exceptional talent as Götz George, as Heinz Hilperts once did?

First broadcast: 1 June 2010, 19:00, ZDFtheaterkanal.

Theatrescapes: Deutsches Theater Göttingen

Göttingen - a city in the spirit of science. For centuries, people have been racking their brains over new theories at the historically rich university. 44 Nobel Prize winners come from Göttingen, and every third person studies or works at the university. A demanding audience - but Göttingen's Deutsches Theater is not intimidated by that.

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