Inclusion in the theatre A start, but much room for improvement

While the inclusion and visibility of people with disabilities in society is only progressing slowly, the theatre scene is already a big step ahead. Cultural journalist Georg Kasch presents current theatre productions.
 

At the Berlin Theatertreffen, where the ten most remarkable productions from Germany, Austria and Switzerland are presented each year, 2024 Riesenhaft in MittelerdeTM was one of the most acclaimed productions: The audience moved together with hobbits, elves and orcs through forests, and a tavern, across several seats and stages. It was an often comical, sometimes intoxicating production that celebrated the power of friendship - and of community.

Riesenhaft in MittelerdeTM was a co-production between the HORA theatre and the Schauspielhaus Zürich, the Berlin group Das Helmi and Der Cora Frost. It is currently typical of the production methods of large inclusive ensembles, which often collaborate with independent artists, groups or municipal theatres. Many of the most exciting inclusive works of the last twenty years have been created in similar constellations: Jérôme Bel's Disabled Theatre (with Theater HORA), Rimini Protokoll's Qualitätskontrolle, Chinchilla Arschloch, waswas, Das Helmi with many HORA and Thiwa co-productions, hannsjana with Thikwa Diane for a day, Merkel, Bauchgefühl and Eins zu Eins by Meine Damen und Herren.

They are visible in the theatre

People with disabilities have moved well into the centre of German-language theatre, where they are more visible than in film, for example, and are often confronted with fewer clichés. What's more, they are more visible here than in many other areas. By signing the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities back in 2009, Germany committed to guaranteeing people with disabilities equal participation in all areas of life. We are still a long way from achieving this: other countries – such as the UK – are much further ahead in terms of accessibility or general visibility.

A number of the works mentioned have ensured a level of visibility for artists with disabilities that is far from a given in society: Disabled Theatre toured halfway around the world and was shown at all major festivals; The Caucasian Chalk Circle by Rimini Protokoll and Theater HORA was the first production at the Salzburg Festival to feature people with cognitive impairments on stage.

The municipal and state theatres provide even more visibility, because this is where inclusive work reaches an audience that has not necessarily made a conscious decision to experience artists with disabilities on stage. This is why it is so important that, since 2021, the Münchner Kammerspiele has been the first German-speaking municipal and state theatre to have an inclusive ensemble, including several actors with both cognitive and physical disabilities. Between productions on the big stage such as Jan-Christoph Gockel's Wer immer hofft, stirbt singend (Whoever hopes dies singing), with an aesthetic somewhere between circus and Frank Castorf, and a completely new aesthetic characterised by easy language in Nele Jahnke's Anti•gone production, there is currently no theatre where the possibilities and challenges of inclusive work are being explored more intensively.

But there are also other models. The Deutsches Theater Berlin has been cooperating with the RambaZamba theatre for selected productions for years, the Deutsches Schauspielhaus Hamburg with the group Meine Damen und Herren, the Tanztheater and the Junges Schauspiel in Bremen with tanzbar. The Schauspiel Leipzig, on the other hand, has become a beacon for audio description and is now committed to integrating German sign language into selected productions.

Inclusive training and creative work

So things are going a little better in the theatre than elsewhere. But there is still a lot of room for improvement here too. The collaborations with the municipal theatre in particular show how many barriers there are – in terms of construction, but also in the organisation of an operation designed to function and in the minds of the employees. The issue of training is also a major construction site. It is still the case that actors with cognitive impairments can only learn their craft within inclusive groups. The first exceptions, such as the Ottersberg School of Social Arts or the Schauspiel Wuppertal, which has set up an inclusive studio, confirm the rule. Like many of the developments already mentioned, they are heavily dependent on external funding – if the money dries up, they are unlikely to continue.

Perhaps one of the most exciting developments in inclusive theatre is that artists with cognitive impairments are increasingly being given leadership skills. The long-term project Freie Republik HORA was formative here. Between 2013 and 2019, it systematically explored the conditions and possibilities under which artists with cognitive impairments can work creatively.

Many other groups are also increasing their efforts to bring actors into creative decision-making positions. At Thikwa theatre, for example. Ensemble member Rachel Rosen wrote the play Das Spiel for Berlin's Theater an der Parkaue, where Lia Massetti recently developed the play Tiere treffen Tiere with members of the Parkaue ensemble. Dennis Seidel, actor with the Hamburg group Meine Damen und Herren, has realised three evenings since 2015, which he wrote and directed himself. The group is currently transforming into a collective – the performers are increasingly taking on responsibility in all other areas of the theatre business. In 2024, Linda Fisahn from I can be your translator staged her version of Romeo and Juliet in Dortmund.

Listen to each other, act with each other 

This new artistic independence, which theatre makers with physical disabilities have in some cases fought for much earlier, is also likely to be reflected in MOBILE, a networking project initiated by the Goethe-Institut on the occasion of the Paralympics in Paris. It brings together a German or Swiss group with a French group, such as the Thikwa theatre with the Insolite Fabriq theatre company or the HORA theatre with the Tout va bien / la Mue du lotus company.
“Exchange formats are extremely important to us”, says Oliver Roth from the HORA theatre. “It's always very enriching for our players to see other people with disabilities making theatre, to experience their presence, their tenderness and ways of expressing themselves.”

“The encounter itself is exciting”, adds Saskia Neuthe from Thikwa Theatre. “Especially with language barriers: How do we interact artistically?” Her experience: “We have to listen to each other, act together.” Skills that are also needed in everyday life – and from which society can only benefit.