Matthias Hartmann

In the organizer's words:

Why a gun doesn't fire on stage
Book presentation and reading

He was the shooting star of German-language theater and one of the most popular directors with Hamburg audiences during the Baumbauer era at the Schauspielhaus. He then took over the Bochum Schauspielhaus, followed by the Schauspielhaus in Zurich and finally the Burgtheater in Vienna, where his career as artistic director ended abruptly under dubious circumstances.

The Hamburg Theater Festival has invited many of his works, including "Amphitryon", "Phaedra", "The Parasite", "What You Will", "Uncle Vanya", "The Last Witnesses", "The Robbers", "Michael Kohlhaas", "The Idiot" and most recently "Macbeth". And Hartmann has performed his plays on almost all of Hamburg's major stages.

Now he has written his first book describing his journey. A declaration of love to the theater and to the audience. "If there's no audience, it's hard to explain that you need the theater to save the world."

Why the theater is a fitness center for the imagination. How to revive the magic of the theater stage. How an industry of meaning emerged that - fueled by cultural policy and the arts pages - has led many theaters into crisis.

Price information:

St. Pauli Theater ticket hotline: (040) 4711 0 666, st-pauli-theater.de and at all known advance booking offices