Matthias Lilienthal (born 21 December 1959) is a German dramaturge and theatre director.

Matthias Lilienthal, 2018

Life and work

Born in Berlin, Lilienthal grew up as the second of three children in Berlin-Neukölln. After graduating from the Berlin Evangelisches Gymnasium zum Grauen Kloster (1978), he studied history, German studies and theatre studies at the Free University of Berlin, but dropped out after ten years.[1]

Mid-1980s - 2002

In the mid-1980s, Lilienthal worked as a freelance journalist for the taz, the zitty and the Süddeutsche Zeitung; he was then an assistant director to Achim Freyer at the Burgtheater in Vienna. From 1988 to 1991, under artistic director Frank Baumbauer dramaturge at the Theater Basel, where he worked with the then unknown Christoph Marthaler and tried to convince Baumbauer to bring Frank Castorf to Basel.[1] When Castorf made him an offer,[1] Lilienthal moved to the Volksbühne Berlin under Castorf's directorship and was chief dramaturge and deputy artistic director there until 1998. In 2002, he was programme director of the Theater der Welt festival in the Rhineland. He is also the initiator of the now internationally performed project X Wohnungen.

2003–2014: Berlin, Beirut, Mannheim

In September 2003, Lilienthal became artistic director and managing director of the Hebbel am Ufer (HAU) in Berlin. In August 2010, he announced that he would not extend his contract beyond 2012. Instead, he worked with young artists in Beirut for ten months from autumn 2012.[2] The jurors of the magazine Theater heute chose Hebbel am Ufer under Lilienthal's direction as the 2012 Theatre of the Year. [3] In 2014, he directed the international Theater der Welt festival in Mannheim.[3]

2015–2020: Munich

Since the 2015/2016 season, Lilienthal has been artistic director of the Munich Kammerspiele, succeeding Johan Simons.[4] For his directorship, he announced the inclusion of "free groups or certain aesthetics of the independent scene in the city theatre" and the cooperation with theatre collectives such as She She Pop, Rimini Protokoll and Gob Squad.[5]

Already before the start of the season, Lilienthal called for a worldwide tender for the art action Shabbyshabby Apartments:[6][7] For four weeks in autumn 2015, 24 temporary huts and cottages stood in central locations in the city, preferably in places that stand for high rents such as Maximilianstraße. These accommodations could each be rented for 35 euros per person per night including breakfast in the theatre canteen in 2015.[8] The project was intended to draw attention to Munich's high rental prices. The action was organised by Benjamin Foerster-Baldenius and Axel Timm from the raumlaborberlin.[9] With Foerster-Baldenius, Lilienthal had already carried out a very similar project entitled Hotel Shabbyshabby at the Nationaltheater Mannheim in 2014.

In March 2018, it was announced that Lilienthal would not seek an extension for his contract at the Kammerspiele, which ran until 2020.[10] In summer 2019, however, critics named the Kammerspiele Theatre of the Year, Christopher Rüping's Dionysos Stadt was best production, and other prizes were awarded for acting, stage design and young actors. The Berliner Theatertreffen invited productions of the Kammerspiele.

To mark the farewell of Lilienthal's directorship, the Olympiastadion in Munich was staged because of Corona. The Japanese director Toshiki Okada staged the Opening Ceremony, a one-hour performance with the Kammerspiele ensemble. The premiere on 11 July 2020 was "a spun-poetic piece" that alluded to this summer's Olympic Games in Japan, which were cancelled due to Corona, which most theatre critics from FAZ to Süddeutsche Zeitung to taz reviewed predominantly favourably.[11]

Influences and theatre conception

Lilienthal described as his most impressive theatre experience the production Winterreise im Olympiastadion by Klaus Michael Grüber, which he saw in Berlin in 1977, "300 spectators shivering in the Olympic Stadium at minus 20 degrees".[12] When asked about important teachers, Lilienthal named Frank Castorf, Christoph Marthaler, Frank Baumbauer, Wilfried Schulz and his friendship with Christoph Schlingensief.[12]

Lilienthal does not see theatre as an elitist space, but as a place for reflection and encounter that takes up the themes of a city and plays them back into the streets,[1] as a "laboratory for trying out urban living space"[13]

Membership

Lilienthal has been a member of the Academy of Arts, Berlin since 1999.

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 Gabriela Herpel: Der Mann aus Reihe drei. In autumn, Matthias Lilienthal will take up his post as the new artistic director of the Munich Kammerspiele. Many believe he will shake up the venerable theatre. But he has been doing so for a long time. In the Süddeutsche Zeitung Magazin. Nr. 9, 27 February 2015, p. 17.
  2. ↑ Mapping Beirut - Tony Chakar and Matthias Lilienthal by Ashkal Alwan - The Lebanese Association for Plastic Arts
  3. 1 2 Rüdiger Schaper: Matthias Lilienthal: "I don't like art crap." In Der Tagesspiegel from 6 September 2012
  4. ↑ Matthias Lilienthal will be artistic director of the Münchner Kammerspiele from 2015. Press release of the Cultural Department of the City of Munich of 16 September 2013
  5. ↑ Egbert Tholl: Kuchen für alle. Matthias Lilienthal liebt die Kammerspiele. In the Süddeutsche Zeitung. Nr. 105, 8 May 2015, ISSN 0174-4917, p. R18.
  6. ↑ Call for tenders for the project Shabbyshabby Apartments, retrieved on 25 February 2015.
  7. ↑ Susanne Hermanski : Münchner Kammern-Spiele. The future artistic director of the Schauspielhaus, Matthias Lilienthal, wants to confront the city with an unusual residential art project right at the beginning of his first season. Now he is calling on architects and designers worldwide to collaborate. In Süddeutsche Zeitung. No. 46, 25 February 2015, ISSN 0174-4917, p. R1.
  8. ↑ Christiane Lutz: Schöner wohnen in der Badewanne. With a spectacular action, the Kammerspiele want to draw attention to the precarious housing situation: In Munich's city centre, they are setting up unusual dwellings that anyone can rent. In: Süddeutsche Zeitung. No. 85, 14 April 2015, ISSN 0174-4917, p. R1.
  9. ↑ Christiane Lutz: Kunstprojekt startet in den Ämterdschungel. For each individual location of the 25 "Shabbyshabby Apartments", the organisers have to apply for a permit from the respective competent authorities. In the Süddeutsche Zeitung. No. 86, 15 April 2015, ISSN 0174-4917, p. R4.
  10. ↑ Susanne Burkhardt: Das Experiment ist zu Ende, DLF Kultur from 19 March 2018.
  11. ↑ Opening Ceremony - Münchner Kammerspiele - Toshiki Okada plays the Munich Olympiastadion for the farewell of Matthias Lilienthal's artistic directorship, critics' review at nachtkritik.de from 11 July 2020, retrieved 23 August 2021
  12. 1 2 Matthias Lilienthal in an interview with Christine Dössel: Hallo Hybrid. Stadttheater-Schreck Matthias Lilienthaol takes over the Münchner Kammerspiele. And how! In the Süddeutsche Zeitung. No. 105, 8 May 2015, ISSN 0174-4917, p. 21.
  13. ↑ Matthias Lilienthal, in Evelyn Vogel Immer im Takt. The designated artistic director of the Munich Kammerspiele, Matthias Lilienthal, and Abbot Johannes Eckert of St. Bonifaz Munich and Andechs Monastery talk about life in a complex time at the salon talk at the Bayerischer Hof. in the Süddeutsche Zeitung. Nr. 167, 23 July 2015, ISSN 0174-4917, p. R22.

Further reading

  • Dirk Baecker, Matthias Lilienthal, Tobi Müller: Hoffnung auf Ereignishaftes in der Erwartungserfüllungsanstalt. Der Soziologe Dirk Baecker, HAU-Chef Matthias Lilienthal und der Journalist Tobi Müller über die Performance als Vergrößerungsglas für den unsinnigen Ablauf von Hauptversammlungen und den Schritt von der Ostpolemik in den Neunzigern zu einer Umwidmung des Globalisierungsbegriffs. In Kirstin Hehmeyer, Matthias Pees (ed.): Import Export. Arbeitsbuch zum HAU Berlin. Theater der Zeit, Berlin 2012, ISBN 978-3-942449-40-3, pp. 11–19.
  • Gabriela Herpel: Der Mann aus Reihe drei. Im Herbst tritt Matthias Lilienthal als neuer Intendant der Münchner Kammerspiele an. Viele glauben, er werde das ehrwürdige Theater gehörig aufwirbeln. Dabei tut er das längst. In Süddeutsche Zeitung Magazin. Nr. 9, 27 February 2015, pp. 12–19.
  • Matthias Lilienthal, Philippe Quesne, Guido Graf, Tobi Müller: Gratiskoks für alle. Matthias Lilienthal, Philippe Quesne und Guido Graf im Gespräch mit Tobi Müller über den 24-Stunden-Marathon‚ Unendlicher Spaß‘. In Kirstin Hehmeyer, Matthias Pees (ed.): Import Export. Arbeitsbuch zum HAU Berlin. Theater der Zeit, Berlin 2012, ISBN 978-3-942449-40-3, pp. 136–143.
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