Maxim Gorki Theater Berlin | Marco Fusinato: A dream, what else?

Marco Fusinato, "IN THE CORPSE OF THE PRESENT Prinz Friedrich von Homburg Heinrich von Kleist", 2026. Maxim Gorki Theater, Berlin Photo: Andrea Rossetti Günther Rühle, the great chronicler of German theater, described Peter Stein's production of Kleist's "Prince of Homburg" at the Berlin Schaubühne in November 1972 as the "most anticipated premiere of the year". The young Botho Strauß supported Stein as a dramaturg. And Bruno Ganz played Prince Friedrich, but also played Heinrich von Kleist in the mirror of his character. A “Prussian dream game” came onto the scene – and was a huge success.

The Australian artist and noise musician Marco Fusinato, who is making his theater debut at Am Festungsgraben in Berlin today, vaguely refers to the legendary production by Peter Stein. Under the title “In the corpse of the present Prince Friedrich von Homburg Heinrich von Kleist” he gives his interpretation of the piece, designed more as an installation than as a theater.

When you enter the dark entrance foyer of the Gorky Theater, you can see the performers in the gallery through the skylights of the windows. If you follow them into the foggy hall, you will hear Bruno Ganz's voice. Only the prince has a say here, everything else is distorted beyond recognition, the painstaking handwork of the actors assigned here. A living statue of Kleist also takes part in the spectacle.

Kleist's last piece, which wanted to counteract the Prussian subject spirit with a little feeling, is dealt with in exactly the same way: with feeling. A lot of murmuring, noise and – well – fog characterize this experience. Giving the audience something enlightening would not have been a bad idea in this very conceptual performance.

In the auditorium, Marco Fusinato himself is on stage, armed with an electric guitar and amplifier. He will improvise here eight hours a day for the next month. This is also an impressive sporting achievement, but not so much one that pushes for knowledge.

New video fragments that Fusinato collected, some of which have subtitles, can be seen on a gigantic screen every day. Street battles meet Caspar David Friedrich. The violent world touches the sensitive romantics. In the press interview, Fusinato reveals his main selection criterion: instinct.

Here, rich in associations, as in a dream, a world unfolds in which the Prince of Homburg and Heinrich von Kleist could be at home. However, one looks in vain for an attitude towards the authoritarian spirit, towards militarism and ways out of both.

When the acclaimed premiere of Stein's "Prince of Homburg" took place more than half a century ago, not only were artistic standards set, but the map of the (West) German theater landscape was redrawn. Suddenly the Schaubühne (then still on Halleschen Ufer), which breathed the spirit of ’68, was the defining place for the performing arts.

And how is the Maxim Gorki Theater positioning itself under its new director Çağla Ilk? Ten years ago, the bad word “event budization” was used to describe Chris Dercon's doomed attempt at the Berlin Volksbühne. The agenda at Gorki doesn't seem to be too far removed from this so far. The theater opens itself up to the visual arts - to which there can hardly be anything objectionable - but in doing so it sacrifices the art of acting. Kleist's verses come from canned goods. The actors are reduced to extras. And the new exploration of a drama in which players and audience meet is left to the other Berlin stages.

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