photos: Anna Agliardi
Have you ever imagined taking hallucinogenic drugs before going to watch a theater play? In the new piece Jessica an Incarnation by Volksbühne Berlin you can have the experience of playing a video game of the world on LSD without taking any. Worth it? Depends on your stamina.
photo: Thomas Aurin.
With clubs closed, events canceled, and generally December being a month mostly dedicated to anticipating Christmas and buying presents, there is not so much to do in terms of entertainment and nightlife. Or is there? Well, as by magic, some of my most anticipated theater pieces happen to have performances this month and I’m so excited about it because due to several lockdowns and what not I haven’t seen a lot of theater in the last 2 years and I miss it.
To avid followers of iHeartBerlin and regular readers of our event guide, it might not come as a surprise that we are big Constanza Macras fans. The Argentinian director and her company DorkyPark have blessed us with many memorable nights in the theater (or whatever other place she chooses for her pieces because it could also very well be a forest or an abandoned industrial hall). So this month she does not only have one but two of her big stage productions playing at Volksbühne and I really recommend you to go. The West is a piece about colonialism that premiered last year and I’ve seen it and it’s fantastic! The Future is her new production from this year, I have yet to watch it, and I will and I can’t wait.
Also on our list is Bibliomaniacs, a dance piece from a newly formed collective of female performance artists that we had the chance to see last year already and warmly recommend. It’s playing this week at Fahrbereitschaft in Lichtenberg. And last but not least, the opera that prompted our recent Cocktail & Movie Night at Staatsoper Berlin: Sleepless is one of the contemporary productions from Staatsoper that I believe is a great opportunity for a younger audience to get into opera and see how impressive a full-blown opera production in one of Germany’s main opera houses actually is.
But really – who thought of giving out free vodka & coffee drinks on a Tuesday night? Does nobody has to work in Berlin on a Wednesday morning? Well, we have nobody else to blame other than ourselves this time.
With Staatsoper and supported by Russian Standard and Schweppes, we threw our third edition of Cocktail & Movie. The ingredients of a sleepless night were simple: sexy cocktails, a lovely crowd, and a thrilling film that left some nightmare-worthy memories. But really: the presented movie White God is not something you would expect in a baroque setting of an Operahouse. The dark fairytale tells the story of a young girl and her dog, through the plot both get separated and have their hurtful journey until they reunite for a big finale. Check out our impression of this incredible night.
On November 16, we are happy to present the third Cocktail & Movie Night at Apollosaal in collaboration with Staatsoper Berlin. The concept of the evening is unique. Inside this baroque venue, we will play some electronic music while our guests will be served a complimentary signature cocktail by Russian Standard & Schweppes before the movie, matching the motto of the evening: SLEEPLESS. And all this for the price of a regular night at the cinema.
On this evening we will show you Kornél Mundruczó’s fantasy film WHITE GOD. The director, who is currently staging the world premiere of Peter Eötvös’ SLEEPLESS at the Staatsoper (premiere: November 28, 2021), will welcome the audience on-site and talk about his work. Mundruczó’s last film, Pieces of a Woman, starring Vanessa Kirby and Shia LaBeouf, was honored with several awards and an Oscar nomination. So this is a unique opportunity for all cinema lovers, opera lovers, and cocktail lovers alike. Get your ticket here fast before it’s sold out.
Berlin has a lot of really affordable art and culture events all around the city. Urban Art and most Galleries a free, many performances are free of charge and now even all museums are free on every first Sunday of the month.
Going to the theater, opera or the ballet is yet not always affordable. Especially if you are not a student or if you want to have really nice seats and see the stage up close. That is why the new initiative from Staatsoper Berlin is something that we really think celebrate the spirit of the city of making the arts available for everyone, despite their income.
For only 12€, everybody under 30 can book any available ticket on the website of the opera for the shows in between the 9th of October and the 21rst of November. Especially during the first period of autumn darkness, going to magical lights of the opera is something that can brighten up your evening. The special sale starts on the 7th of October at 12.00 am. On the program of this month are a ballet piece, instrumental concerts and several operas to choose from. Choose quick, because tickets are usually sold-out pretty fast.
performer: Bishop Black.
Tucked away in the depths of the Salon Zur Wilden Renate beer garden lies the Peepshow, a glimpse into a ruby fantasy.
Between the currently closed club and the self-service bar stands the peepshow box, so unassuming, from afar that you could even miss it on any casual evening downing beers and having a smoke. Luckily, tonight you’re a bit more curious, and on a second glance, you notice little cutouts looking into the box, each with a small vagina plastered underneath and a sign that says “tip the slit.” Just before 20:30, a voice announces to the crowd over a megaphone that there are 2 tickets left for the 20:30 peepshow. Buy one. Buy the other for your friend if you have a spare five euros.
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If there is one thing we have all learned in the last year it is that many things we were used to had to be completely rethought and reinvented. This rings especially true for the culture and arts scene that was completely shut down for so long with very few alternatives.
The operas and theatres had some of the most invasive restrictions during the few months they were allowed to open reducing audience capacities and cutting the seasons short. So they were very few opportunities to see anything on stage, only a few people got lucky with tickets and that’s still a reality today.
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The new production of Puccini’s opera “La Fanciulla del West” at Staatsoper Berlin is giving us some real Wild Wild West vibes. What a piece to start the season with after this endless lockdown! The premiere on Sunday, June 13th, is actually already sold out, but because the demand was expected to be high after such a long time with closed stages, the Staatsoper Unter den Linden together with their long-term sponsor BMW came up with the idea of creating a drive-in cinema experience where viewers can enjoy a live stream of the premiere from the comfort of their car. As a special treat, we are giving away 5 tickets for the spectacle!
When you read the synopsis of “La Fanciulla del West” you probably ask yourself, wait, how is this supposed to be an Italian opera from the one and only Puccini? It goes a little something like that: “California, at the heyday of the Gold Rush: the place of people’s dreams turns out to be an inexorable wasteland, governed by the law of the jungle. Minnie’s bar is the only place where people live in peaceful coexistence. It is revered by gold seekers and fiercely presided over by the gruff Sheriff Rance. But when Minnie falls in love with a stranger who turns out to be the notorious bandit Johnson, the fragile community is turned upside down.”
As a 27-year-old night owl in Berlin, who once devoted himself so dearly to the nightlife and party scene, sometimes I question myself how I ended up spending my Friday night taking an online quiz to find out which döner sauce I am. Now I’m sure most of you can already relate. Corona forced our boundaries of mundane activities to a whole new level. You won’t be surprised to find out you’re not the only one watching an old show on TV and find yourself wondering how the actors are so close to each other without wearing a mask. While we are adapting to the new normal, artists and performers are working hard to bring us the best on digital platforms to keep us connected to the world and we can’t thank them enough. You will be extra happy if you love immersive experiences, dance, theater, opera, digital art, and drag shows! Here is a list of online events you can book right now!
photo: Jubal Battisti.
At the end of August, the operas and theaters of Berlin will be able to reopen again after the lockdown. We are really happy about this but it’s not going to be the same with a lot of restrictions on stage and behind the scenes, as well as way fewer seats in the audience room. A lot of the new productions we were looking forward to were scrapped because they either didn’t comply with distance rules or could simply not be rehearsed due to the restrictions.
For a few months now the dancers of Staatsballett Berlin were not able to perform nor practice together. In an earlier stage of the lockdown, we already shared a really wonderful video initiated and edited by Principal Dancer Ksenia Ovsyanick that showed the dancers performing in their homes and gardens during self-isolation. Now, a few months later, the dancers were able to leave their houses and practice again, but still not together like they were used to. Following the big success of the first video, they now released two more videos that we want to share with you here.