Year-End Summary 2020
Ah, 2020 with no plays to watch…
Originally, I expected to watch at least 50 plays in the first half of this year in Berlin, especially the FIND Theater Festival at the Schlosspark Theater in late March, plus the Berlin Theater Festival in May. Such a trip would have been the most enjoyable half year of my theater-watching career. Unfortunately…
In summer, the pandemic improved somewhat, and I managed to catch Susanne Kennedy’s “Oracle” in Munich by seizing every opportunity. I also saw “Vacuum Cleaner,” selected for this year’s Berlin Theater Festival, and made three trips back to Berlin to watch two ballets and three plays. The ballets were special performances by the Berlin company prepared during the pandemic: “From Berlin with Love”. The three plays were the new work “Zdeněk Adamec” by Nobel laureate Peter Handke staged at the Deutsches Theater, plus two solo shows at Schlosspark Theater — Lars Edinger starring in “Peer Gynt” and Milo Rau’s “Everywoman.” Afterwards, I went to Switzerland, the toughest country in Europe regarding restrictions, to watch Rüping’s new work “Just at the End of the World.”
Traveling around, almost every time I finished watching a show there was a lockdown. Two days after watching a show on March 9, Germany officially entered lockdown. After finishing shows in Berlin on October 28, the second lockdown began. The stubborn Zurich closed theaters three days after I returned…
I saw 21 performances throughout the year, and watched over a dozen plays sporadically online, but really couldn’t find much interest.
The best of the year was admittedly a bit weak. Surprisingly, the highest score I found was the “Hamlet” (9 points) I watched at the Grips Theater in Berlin at the beginning of the year. The format was super innovative, and every detail opened my eyes. After the pandemic, they also released an online version. Comparing it to the many 10-point plays I watched last year is really…
Since I couldn’t enter theaters, I had to stay home and read books. I read a Chinese script of “A Doll’s House” and a bunch of miscellaneous foreign books related to theater.
“Ferryman” is a play I saw on Broadway in 2018, and it was also the Best Play at the Tony Awards that year. Revisiting the script, the plot still remains vivid in my mind.
“Theatermusik” is a book by a professor at a neighboring school; a book review can be found here.
“Razzle Dazzle” is written by Michael Riedel, a theater columnist for the New York Post, chronicling the rise and fall of Broadway from the 1960s to the early 21st century. It’s also a chronicle of the theater giant Shubert Organization (Why called a giant? See how many theaters they own in New York…)
Well… outlook for next year: watch plays when there are plays, read books when there aren’t.