The early fame was also a millstone round the director’s neck. After the celebrated successes at Berlin’s "Baracke" and after being invited to the Berliner Theatertreffen twice in 1998, it was to be expected that his work at the Schaubühne, this "Holy Grail" of German theatre, would be under enormous pressure from the outset. The start with the young ensemble of actors and dancers was not easy. Critics often expressed disappointment about Ostermeier’s first productions at the Schaubühne.
Previously, in the bunker of the small "Baracke" his preference for the "little dirty plays" of young English-language writers had exactly hit the nerve of the place and time; Mark Ravenhill’s loser story "Shopping & Fucking" (1998), a brilliant, acrobatic tightrope walk between slapstick and tragedy, had become a cult production there. But then, in the "sophisticated" space of the Schaubühne the director’s project of uncovering concrete reality even on the margins of society (e.g. with Lars Norén’s "People 3.1", 2000) was held against him as a socio-romantic pose. Nevertheless, Ostermeier has not let himself be put off. He has repeatedly taken up the subject of the social underdogs: in Marieluise Fleisser’s "The Strong Tribe" (2002), in Franz Xaver Kroetz’s "Request Concert" (2003), in Georg Büchner’s "Woyzeck" (2003).
Ostermeier’s understanding of realism is ultimately aimed at enlightenment. He is in favour of a new substance to theatre, against the arbitrariness of destruction and the aesthetics of "anything goes". "Especially since people’s social experiences are so disrupted and, in many cases, broken, the need to at least fake something like unity, context and design is growing": this, he says, is the reason for the realistic approach in his work. But the moral is not in the direct statement; much rather it is in the form.
Narrative story-telling and body language characterise his productions. Ostermeier is a traditionalist through and through as far as closeness to the text and acting. The actor is at the heart. Maximum physical commitment is required of him. Emotion should be visible in concrete action and not in "psychological affectations". It is noticeable that the director, who initially relied on a very young ensemble, increasingly wants to work with experienced actors.
From the very start Ostermeier was mainly interested in contemporary theatre. With workshops and the "Festival of International New Drama" (FIND), he and his team have set new standards to promote writers in the German theatre. He himself has produced countless national and international premieres.
Over time, his interest in classic modern plays has grown; Ibsen’s "A Doll’s House" (2002) has been his biggest success of recent years. The production illustrates how Ostermeier’s understanding of reality now fully incorporates the media reality of today: the emancipation drama is transferred directly into middle class society of the present and into the image-filled world of the consumer society. Visual and acoustic quotes from the cinema, TV soaps, comics and pop, effectively and grotesquely heightened, indicate: modern man’s search for identity is surrounded by inflationary role clichés.
