Theaters Go Digital to Talk About Life (and Death) in the Pandemic
German playhouses are finding innovative ways to forge connections while their doors are closed.
Jonny Hoff as Werther and Florian Gerteis as his friend Wilhelm in “werther.live.”Credit.werther.live
Feb. 11, 2021
An interactive thriller about the race for a vaccine. A morbid installation on the stage of a theater no one can visit. A literary classic set during lockdown and narrated through social media posts. This is what theater in Germany looks like in early 2021.
Nearly a year after the pandemic first shuttered playhouses in the country, German theatermakers have become increasingly adept at working around virus-related restrictions. Now, instead of the deluge of archival recordings or the broadcasts of productions planned before the pandemic, an increasing amount of digital theater is using technology to address Covid-era concerns.