The Covid19 pandemic has also affected us indirectly at THEATER DER KLÄNGE. In the middle of the first rehearsal phase for our new production we have to stop our operations because the risk for our ensemble to infect each other is simply too great. Also, a performance of our TRIAS Suite for March 26th in Bocholt has been cancelled at short notice. Nevertheless, all our dancers, musicians, video and sound artists but also our director and choreographer have contracts promising them a salary. And rightly so! Our artists are without exception freelancers, almost all of whom are paid from engagement to engagement and are now especially hard hit, in particular as the second mainstay – teaching activities – is also not practicable for them at the moment. Therefore, our loss of rehearsals and the cancelled guest performance is currently tearing a hole of approx. 5,000 € into our budget, as we would like to pay out the cancelled salaries and fees to the artists working with us in any case.

As a free theatre we are dependent on public funding. In over 32 years of existence, we have regularly received generous funding from various public sponsors, but also from foundations, for our very specific and unique artistic work. However, nobody could foresee the current situation, nor could anyone have anticipated it.

We defy the virus creatively!

We could just wait now and try to get something from the state emergency funds that have been promised. But we would rather creatively turn this situation into something good: As long as the lockdown continues, we have decided to publish one of our complete performance recordings of our 27 productions so far online for one weekend each week.

Every Thursday evening at 19:00 we will publish one of our productions on this page in chronological order until the following Sunday. Some of these plays have not been shown for decades and the corresponding professionally made films have been stored in our archive ever since.

You want to continue your theatre and dance experiences and currently have no opportunity to do so?

We understand the gravity of the current situation and yet we see with regret that culture was the first thing that was banned. But if you have enjoyed going to theatre or dance performances so far, we will be launching our home-alternative from Friday, 20 March 2020! On our website we have published detailed information about all our previous productions so that you can get an idea of what we have created so far. The pieces in detail are:

1. The Mechanical Bauhaus Stage (1987: The mechanical ballet & The mechanical eccentric)
2. The Baroque Theatre of Masks (1988/89)
3. The Kitchen by Arnold Wesker (1990)
4. November 1918 * 1989  (1991)
5. Figure and Sound in Space (1993)
6. Speech is Silver… (1994)
7. The Play of Daniel  (1994)
8. The Birds by Aristophanes (1996)
9. Jubilee (1997)
10. The Neuberin (1999)

11. Das Opfer by Igor Strawinsky (1999)
12. Megalopolis (2001)
13. Modul|a|t|o|r (2002)
14. Gregorius by Hartmann von Aue and Thomas Mann (2004)
15. HEAReographics (2005)
16. Vicious Circles (2006)
17. I is another (2007)
18. Johnnys Jihad by Marc Pommerening (2009)
19. Suite Intermediale (2011)
20. Vanitas  (2012)

21. Coda (2014)
22. TRIAS – the triadic ballet by Oskar Schlemmer (2015)
23. Contrasts (2016)
24. Dance Fugue (2017)
25. Bauhaus Ballets  (2017: The mechanical ballet & TRIAS – The triadic ballet)
26. The Silverprince (2018)
27. The Lacquer Ballet by Oskar Schlemmer (2019)

Donations instead of tickets?

Admittedly, if we now upload the films every week for 4 days each anyway, where is the reason for you to donate?

Well, in this case: Donating is an act of solidarity!

On the one hand you really help us, because we can pay the fees and salaries of our artists without having a loss of money.

In addition, as a non-profit organization, we can also issue you a donation receipt.

If you are willing to donate more than 50 €, we will give you the video link to a recording of your choice in advance! You can then watch one of our 27 productions as often as you like, completely detached from our online premiere schedule.

Why should only the major film streaming services in the ” social distancing phase” determine your cultural programme at home? With our “free” service you can enjoy our music theatre and dance productions on demand at home!

Organizational details

As theatremakers, we believe in connecting audiences with performers in shows at a particular time and place. This community experience cannot be simulated digitally. As free theatre, we also live to a large extent from the audience who attend our performances and are prepared to pay an entrance fee for them. We therefore reserve the right to end the action with free films once the situation has eased and normal cultural activities are possible again. We also reserve the right to end the campaign early if it does not meet with sufficient interest.

In case of problems with the transmission of email addresses to receive video links, please contact us via our contact page. We will take care of it as soon as possible. If you have any further questions, please feel free to contact us via the contact page, too. Our office will continue to operate for the time being on a half-day basis.