By James Matthew Barrie, German version by Erich Kästner

Robert Wilson and CocoRosie

Robert Wilson has staged Peter Pan as a musical tale for adults, where humor is mixed with fear. The text is based on Erich Kästner’s German version of J. M. Barrie’s story, where Peter Pan appears more like a David Bowie type than like a chubby little boy. Featuring original songs and music by the Brooklyn-and-Paris-based "freak folk" band CocoRosie, this production has been playing successfully in the Berliner Ensemble's repertoire, as well as on several international tours.

More information and tickets here.

By James Matthew Barrie, German version by Erich Kästner

Robert Wilson and CocoRosie

Robert Wilson has staged Peter Pan as a musical tale for adults, where humor is mixed with fear. The text is based on Erich Kästner’s German version of J. M. Barrie’s story, where Peter Pan appears more like a David Bowie type than like a chubby little boy. Featuring original songs and music by the Brooklyn-and-Paris-based "freak folk" band CocoRosie, this production has been playing successfully in the Berliner Ensemble's repertoire, as well as on several international tours.

More information and tickets here.

By James Matthew Barrie, German version by Erich Kästner

Robert Wilson and CocoRosie

Robert Wilson has staged Peter Pan as a musical tale for adults, where humor is mixed with fear. The text is based on Erich Kästner’s German version of J. M. Barrie’s story, where Peter Pan appears more like a David Bowie type than like a chubby little boy. Featuring original songs and music by the Brooklyn-and-Paris-based "freak folk" band CocoRosie, this production has been playing successfully in the Berliner Ensemble's repertoire, as well as on several international tours.

More information and tickets at here.

[Die Dreigroschenoper]

A play by Bertolt Brecht adapted from Elizabeth Hauptmann's German version of John Gay's The Beggar's Opera.

Lyrics by Bertolt Brecht

Music by Kurt Weill

An artistic destiny fulfilled, visionary director Robert Wilson joins the world-renowned Berliner Ensemble in a bold production of Bertolt Brecht and Kurt Weill's The Threepenny Opera–a seminal work of 20th-century music theater.  Wilson's production recasts the story of Peachum, Polly, and Macheath in a bewitching setting informed equally by the striking designs of German Expressionist cinema and the shattering, seductive world of Weimar-era cabaret.

More information and tickets here.

[Die Dreigroschenoper]

A play by Bertolt Brecht adapted from Elizabeth Hauptmann's German version of John Gay's The Beggar's Opera.

Lyrics by Bertolt Brecht

Music by Kurt Weill

An artistic destiny fulfilled, visionary director Robert Wilson joins the world-renowned Berliner Ensemble in a bold production of Bertolt Brecht and Kurt Weill's The Threepenny Opera–a seminal work of 20th-century music theater.  Wilson's production recasts the story of Peachum, Polly, and Macheath in a bewitching setting informed equally by the striking designs of German Expressionist cinema and the shattering, seductive world of Weimar-era cabaret.

More information and tickets here.

[Die Dreigroschenoper]

A play by Bertolt Brecht adapted from Elizabeth Hauptmann's German version of John Gay's The Beggar's Opera.

Lyrics by Bertolt Brecht

Music by Kurt Weill

An artistic destiny fulfilled, visionary director Robert Wilson joins the world-renowned Berliner Ensemble in a bold production of Bertolt Brecht and Kurt Weill's The Threepenny Opera–a seminal work of 20th-century music theater.  Wilson's production recasts the story of Peachum, Polly, and Macheath in a bewitching setting informed equally by the striking designs of German Expressionist cinema and the shattering, seductive world of Weimar-era cabaret.

More information and tickets here.

[Les Nègres]

By Jean Genet

“Ever since the revelation of DEAFMAN GLANCE, those who experience a work by Robert Wilson know that they are head and body smack in the middle of our historical patrimony of the contemporary performing arts. As for Genet, no one will dispute his rightful seat at the table of 20th century classics. Hieratic and carnavelesque, The Blacks is a multi-faceted work, drawn from theater (the burlesque theater of clowns), ritual and improvisation. Wilson refuses to choose between the numerous possible readings. Without ever being didactic, he paints, gives rhythm to and minutely fine-tunes his sublime choreographies according to his unique and inimitable language. From what we have seen during the preliminary rehearsals with the actors, the BLACKS, our next window onto Wilson’s singular world, should simply be... sublime.”

— l'Odéon-Théâtre de l'Europe

Associate direction by Charles Chemin
Associate set design by Stephanie Engeln
Associate light design by Xavier Baron
Costumes by Moidele Bickel
Dramaturgy by Ellen Hammer
Music by Dickie Landry

Production by l'Odéon-Théâtre de l'Europe and co-production with Festival d'Automne à Paris, Théâtre National Populaire – Villeurbanne, deSingel campus des arts international – Anvers, Festival Automne en Normandie, La Comédie de Clermont-Ferrand Scène Nationale 

With the Festival d'Automne à Paris and the support of the Cercle de l'Odéon and LVMH

More information and tickets here.

Performed in German with English subtitles

The Bard is modern and alive than ever in visionary Robert Wilson's Shakespeare's Sonnets, a contemporary take on 25 specially chosen sonnets from Shakespeare's cannon.  Set to a sweeping score composed by the renowned Rufus Wainwright, a genre-bending mix of medieval German Minnesang, classical, pop, and cabaret rock is performed by Bertolt Brecht's historic Berliner Ensemble.  The sonnets were pared down and selected by Berliner dramaturge Jutta Ferbers who deftly adapted these captivating poems that were originally unintended for the theater.  The production was first staged in Berlin in 2009 for the fourth centennial of the publishing of the sonnets.

For this production, Wilson embraces the prevalence of subversive gender conventions embedded in Shakespeare's 154 sonnets which move fluidly between male and female objects of desire.  Several quintessential characters make an appearance; from boy to fool, from Cupid to the mysterious Dark Lady, from the Queen of England to Shakespeare himself.  Wilson's signature sculpting of time, light, and gesture combined with Wainwright's romantic, sensitive, and at times disturbingly dark score transports audiences to a dreamlike place suspended in time.

– BAM

Direction, set design, and lighting concept by Robert Wilson

Music by Rufus Wainwright

Sonnet selection by Jutta Ferbers

Costumes by Jacques Reynaud

Co-directed by Ann-Christin Rommen

Conducted by Hans-Jörn Brandenburg and Stefan Rager

Lighting design by Andreas Fuchs

Performed in German with English subtitles

The Bard is modern and alive than ever in visionary Robert Wilson's Shakespeare's Sonnets, a contemporary take on 25 specially chosen sonnets from Shakespeare's cannon.  Set to a sweeping score composed by the renowned Rufus Wainwright, a genre-bending mix of medieval German Minnesang, classical, pop, and cabaret rock is performed by Bertolt Brecht's historic Berliner Ensemble.  The sonnets were pared down and selected by Berliner dramaturge Jutta Ferbers who deftly adapted these captivating poems that were originally unintended for the theater.  The production was first staged in Berlin in 2009 for the fourth centennial of the publishing of the sonnets.

For this production, Wilson embraces the prevalence of subversive gender conventions embedded in Shakespeare's 154 sonnets which move fluidly between male and female objects of desire.  Several quintessential characters make an appearance; from boy to fool, from Cupid to the mysterious Dark Lady, from the Queen of England to Shakespeare himself.  Wilson's signature sculpting of time, light, and gesture combined with Wainwright's romantic, sensitive, and at times disturbingly dark score transports audiences to a dreamlike place suspended in time.

– BAM

Direction, set design, and lighting concept by Robert Wilson

Music by Rufus Wainwright

Sonnet selection by Jutta Ferbers

Costumes by Jacques Reynaud

Co-directed by Ann-Christin Rommen

Conducted by Hans-Jörn Brandenburg and Stefan Rager

Lighting design by Andreas Fuchs

"Robert Wilson not only directs and designs, but also performs Samuel Beckett's one-man play Krapp's Last Tape, his first appearance as an actor since his HAMLET: A MONOLOGUE, last performed in 2000. The work provides a unique opportunity for his performing talent, being a blend of his signature, highly detailed, and rigorous integration of movement, lighting and sound, and within that framework, a structure that leaves a great deal of freedom for the spontaneity of response that makes his live performance so exciting.

Wilson has often been compared with Beckett, both being masters of the stark simplicity that is one of the most difficult artistic achievements. Nothing is extraneous, not a word, not a movement. In the brief hour of this work, Beckett and Wilson in a few simple strokes paint a vision of the world that is very particular and at the same time, universal."

–Sue Jane Stoker

"The Good Soldier Švejk, the key novel of Czech literature and an ironic insight into war and its attendant absurdity, is creatively juxtaposed in this production with Karl Kraus’s satirical anti-war play The Last Days of Mankind. The modern-theatre wizard Robert Wilson transforms all this into a cabaret replete with scenic images, music and surprising humor in a parable not only of 1914 but also, and primarily, our life today, one hundred years after the outbreak of a terrible war that marked the real start of the 20th century. The powerful production about Europe, its optimists and pessimists (beneath the gaze of eternal Time), is a unique project in which–for the second time–the elite of Czech drama will join forces with an artist setting the direction of global theatre." 

–Národní Divadlo

Direction, set design, and lighting conception by Robert Wilson

Theme by Aleš Březina, Soňa Červená

Libretto by Marta Ljubková

Translation by Hanuš Karlach

Music by Aleš Březina

Associate stage direction by Ann-Christin Rommen

Lighting design by A.J. Weissbard

Dramaturgy by Martin Urban

Costume Design by Yashi 

More information and tickets here.

"Robert Wilson not only directs and designs, but also performs Samuel Beckett's one-man play Krapp's Last Tape, his first appearance as an actor since his HAMLET: A MONOLOGUE, last performed in 2000. The work provides a unique opportunity for his performing talent, being a blend of his signature, highly detailed, and rigorous integration of movement, lighting and sound, and within that framework, a structure that leaves a great deal of freedom for the spontaneity of response that makes his live performance so exciting.

Wilson has often been compared with Beckett, both being masters of the stark simplicity that is one of the most difficult artistic achievements. Nothing is extraneous, not a word, not a movement. In the brief hour of this work, Beckett and Wilson in a few simple strokes paint a vision of the world that is very particular and at the same time, universal."

–Sue Jane Stoker

"The Good Soldier Švejk, the key novel of Czech literature and an ironic insight into war and its attendant absurdity, is creatively juxtaposed in this production with Karl Kraus’s satirical anti-war play The Last Days of Mankind. The modern-theatre wizard Robert Wilson transforms all this into a cabaret replete with scenic images, music and surprising humour in a parable not only of 1914 but also, and primarily, our life today, one hundred years after the outbreak of a terrible war that marked the real start of the 20th century. The powerful production about Europe, its optimists and pessimists (beneath the gaze of eternal Time), is a unique project in which–for the second time–the elite of Czech drama will join forces with an artist setting the direction of global theatre." 

–Národní Divadlo

Direction, set design, and lighting conception by Robert Wilson

Theme by Aleš Březina, Soňa Červená

Libretto by Marta Ljubková

Translation by Hanuš Karlach

Music by Aleš Březina

Associate stage direction by Ann-Christin Rommen

Lighting design by A.J. Weissbard

Dramaturgy by Martin Urban

Costume Design by Yashi 

More information and tickets here.

[Les Nègres]

By Jean Genet

“Ever since the revelation of DEAFMAN GLANCE, those who experience a work by Robert Wilson know that they are head and body smack in the middle of our historical patrimony of the contemporary performing arts. As for Genet, no one will dispute his rightful seat at the table of 20th century classics. Hieratic and carnavelesque, The Blacks is a multi-faceted work, drawn from theater (the burlesque theater of clowns), ritual and improvisation. Wilson refuses to choose between the numerous possible readings. Without ever being didactic, he paints, gives rhythm to and minutely fine-tunes his sublime choreographies according to his unique and inimitable language. From what we have seen during the preliminary rehearsals with the actors, the BLACKS, our next window onto Wilson’s singular world, should simply be... sublime.”

— l'Odéon-Théâtre de l'Europe

Associate direction by Charles Chemin
Associate set design by Stephanie Engeln
Associate light design by Xavier Baron
Costumes by Moidele Bickel
Dramaturgy by Ellen Hammer
Music by Dickie Landry

Production by l'Odéon-Théâtre de l'Europe and co-production with Festival d'Automne à Paris, Théâtre National Populaire – Villeurbanne, deSingel campus des arts international – Anvers, Festival Automne en Normandie, La Comédie de Clermont-Ferrand Scène Nationale 

With the Festival d'Automne à Paris and the support of the Cercle de l'Odéon and LVMH

More information and tickets here.

[Les Nègres]

By Jean Genet

“Ever since the revelation of DEAFMAN GLANCE, those who experience a work by Robert Wilson know that they are head and body smack in the middle of our historical patrimony of the contemporary performing arts. As for Genet, no one will dispute his rightful seat at the table of 20th century classics. Hieratic and carnavelesque, The Blacks is a multi-faceted work, drawn from theater (the burlesque theater of clowns), ritual and improvisation. Wilson refuses to choose between the numerous possible readings. Without ever being didactic, he paints, gives rhythm to and minutely fine-tunes his sublime choreographies according to his unique and inimitable language. From what we have seen during the preliminary rehearsals with the actors, the BLACKS, our next window onto Wilson’s singular world, should simply be... sublime.”

— l'Odéon-Théâtre de l'Europe

Associate direction by Charles Chemin
Associate set design by Stephanie Engeln
Associate light design by Xavier Baron
Costumes by Moidele Bickel
Dramaturgy by Ellen Hammer
Music by Dickie Landry

Production by l'Odéon-Théâtre de l'Europe and co-production with Festival d'Automne à Paris, Théâtre National Populaire – Villeurbanne, deSingel campus des arts international – Anvers, Festival Automne en Normandie, La Comédie de Clermont-Ferrand Scène Nationale 

With the Festival d'Automne à Paris and the support of the Cercle de l'Odéon and LVMH

More information and tickets here.

By James Matthew Barrie, German version by Erich Kästner

Robert Wilson and CocoRosie

Robert Wilson has staged Peter Pan as a musical tale for adults, where humor is mixed with fear. The text is based on Erich Kästner’s German version of J. M. Barrie’s story, where Peter Pan appears more like a David Bowie type than like a chubby little boy. Featuring original songs and music by the Brooklyn-and-Paris-based "freak folk" band CocoRosie, this production has been playing successfully in the Berliner Ensemble's repertoire, as well as on several international tours.

More information and tickets here.

By James Matthew Barrie, German version by Erich Kästner

Robert Wilson and CocoRosie

Robert Wilson has staged Peter Pan as a musical tale for adults, where humor is mixed with fear. The text is based on Erich Kästner’s German version of J. M. Barrie’s story, where Peter Pan appears more like a David Bowie type than like a chubby little boy. Featuring original songs and music by the Brooklyn-and-Paris-based "freak folk" band CocoRosie, this production has been playing successfully in the Berliner Ensemble's repertoire, as well as on several international tours.

More information and tickets here.

By James Matthew Barrie, German version by Erich Kästner

Robert Wilson and CocoRosie

Robert Wilson has staged Peter Pan as a musical tale for adults, where humor is mixed with fear. The text is based on Erich Kästner’s German version of J. M. Barrie’s story, where Peter Pan appears more like a David Bowie type than like a chubby little boy. Featuring original songs and music by the Brooklyn-and-Paris-based "freak folk" band CocoRosie, this production has been playing successfully in the Berliner Ensemble's repertoire, as well as on several international tours.

More information and tickets here.

Opening of the Forum do Futuro

During the three-hour event, Robert Wilson invites all the participants on a journey to his aesthetic world. Wilson’s career has been exceptionally prolific and his own works are the  main topic of his lecture. Wilson offers an intimate glimpse into his creative process through photos and stories.  

Read more here.

Iconic theater artist Robert Wilson (Einstein on the Beach) directs Willem Dafoe and Mikhail Baryshnikov in a surreal marriage of abstract storytelling, pitch-black comedy, and vaudeville. In a production "by turns moving, cruel, witty, and occasionally laugh-out-loud funny" (The Independent, UK), Dafoe and Baryshnikov portray multi-faceted characters inhabiting a disorienting world, forced to deal with an unexplained and unwanted houseguest. "Baryshnikov and Dafoe are superb, managing to wring the pathos out of each of their bizarre encounters" (Financial Times, London). 

By Daniil Kharms

Direction, set design, lighting concept by Robert Wilson

Adapted by Darryl Pinckney

Music by Hal Willner

Costumes by Jacques Reynaud

Associate Set design by Annick Lavallée-Benny

Light design by A.J. Weissbard 

A Baryshnikov Productions, Change Performing Arts and The Watermill Center project 
Commissioned and co-produced by Manchester International Festival, Spoleto Festival dei 2Mondi, Theatre de la Ville-Paris/Festival d'Automne á Paris, DeSingel Antwerp 

Executive Producer Change Performing Arts in association with Baryshnikov Productions 

More information and tickets here.

Iconic theater artist Robert Wilson (Einstein on the Beach) directs Willem Dafoe and Mikhail Baryshnikov in a surreal marriage of abstract storytelling, pitch-black comedy, and vaudeville. In a production "by turns moving, cruel, witty, and occasionally laugh-out-loud funny" (The Independent, UK), Dafoe and Baryshnikov portray multi-faceted characters inhabiting a disorienting world, forced to deal with an unexplained and unwanted houseguest. "Baryshnikov and Dafoe are superb, managing to wring the pathos out of each of their bizarre encounters" (Financial Times, London). 

By Daniil Kharms

Direction, set design, lighting concept by Robert Wilson

Adapted by Darryl Pinckney

Music by Hal Willner

Costumes by Jacques Reynaud

Associate Set design by Annick Lavallée-Benny

Light design by A.J. Weissbard 

A Baryshnikov Productions, Change Performing Arts and The Watermill Center project 
Commissioned and co-produced by Manchester International Festival, Spoleto Festival dei 2Mondi, Theatre de la Ville-Paris/Festival d'Automne á Paris, DeSingel Antwerp 

Executive Producer Change Performing Arts in association with Baryshnikov Productions 

More information and tickets here.

Iconic theater artist Robert Wilson (Einstein on the Beach) directs Willem Dafoe and Mikhail Baryshnikov in a surreal marriage of abstract storytelling, pitch-black comedy, and vaudeville. In a production "by turns moving, cruel, witty, and occasionally laugh-out-loud funny" (The Independent, UK), Dafoe and Baryshnikov portray multi-faceted characters inhabiting a disorienting world, forced to deal with an unexplained and unwanted houseguest. "Baryshnikov and Dafoe are superb, managing to wring the pathos out of each of their bizarre encounters" (Financial Times, London). 

By Daniil Kharms

Direction, set design, lighting concept by Robert Wilson

Adapted by Darryl Pinckney

Music by Hal Willner

Costumes by Jacques Reynaud

Associate Set design by Annick Lavallée-Benny

Light design by A.J. Weissbard 

A Baryshnikov Productions, Change Performing Arts and The Watermill Center project 
Commissioned and co-produced by Manchester International Festival, Spoleto Festival dei 2Mondi, Theatre de la Ville-Paris/Festival d'Automne á Paris, DeSingel Antwerp 

Executive Producer Change Performing Arts in association with Baryshnikov Productions 

More information and tickets here.

[Les Nègres]

By Jean Genet

Associate direction by Charles Chemin
Associate set design by Stephanie Engeln
Associate light design by Xavier Baron
Costumes by Moidele Bickel
Dramaturgy by Ellen Hammer
Music by Dickie Landry

Production by l'Odéon-Théâtre de l'Europe and co-production with Festival d'Automne à Paris, Théâtre National Populaire – Villeurbanne, deSingel campus des arts international – Anvers, Festival Automne en Normandie, La Comédie de Clermont-Ferrand Scène Nationale 

With the Festival d'Automne à Paris and the support of the Cercle de l'Odéon and LVMH

More information and tickets here.

[Les Nègres]

By Jean Genet

Associate direction by Charles Chemin
Associate set design by Stephanie Engeln
Associate light design by Xavier Baron
Costumes by Moidele Bickel
Dramaturgy by Ellen Hammer
Music by Dickie Landry

Production by l'Odéon-Théâtre de l'Europe and co-production with Festival d'Automne à Paris, Théâtre National Populaire – Villeurbanne, deSingel campus des arts international – Anvers, Festival Automne en Normandie, La Comédie de Clermont-Ferrand Scène Nationale 

With the Festival d'Automne à Paris and the support of the Cercle de l'Odéon and LVMH

More information and tickets here.

[Les Nègres]

By Jean Genet

Associate direction by Charles Chemin
Associate set design by Stephanie Engeln
Associate light design by Xavier Baron
Costumes by Moidele Bickel
Dramaturgy by Ellen Hammer
Music by Dickie Landry

Production by l'Odéon-Théâtre de l'Europe and co-production with Festival d'Automne à Paris, Théâtre National Populaire – Villeurbanne, deSingel campus des arts international – Anvers, Festival Automne en Normandie, La Comédie de Clermont-Ferrand Scène Nationale 

With the Festival d'Automne à Paris and the support of the Cercle de l'Odéon and LVMH

More information and tickets here.

[Les Nègres]

By Jean Genet

Associate direction by Charles Chemin
Associate set design by Stephanie Engeln
Associate light design by Xavier Baron
Costumes by Moidele Bickel
Dramaturgy by Ellen Hammer
Music by Dickie Landry

Production by l'Odéon-Théâtre de l'Europe and co-production with Festival d'Automne à Paris, Théâtre National Populaire – Villeurbanne, deSingel campus des arts international – Anvers, Festival Automne en Normandie, La Comédie de Clermont-Ferrand Scène Nationale 

With the Festival d'Automne à Paris and the support of the Cercle de l'Odéon and LVMH

More information and tickets here.

[Les Nègres]

By Jean Genet

Associate direction by Charles Chemin
Associate set design by Stephanie Engeln
Associate light design by Xavier Baron
Costumes by Moidele Bickel
Dramaturgy by Ellen Hammer
Music by Dickie Landry

Production by l'Odéon-Théâtre de l'Europe and co-production with Festival d'Automne à Paris, Théâtre National Populaire – Villeurbanne, deSingel campus des arts international – Anvers, Festival Automne en Normandie, La Comédie de Clermont-Ferrand Scène Nationale 

With the Festival d'Automne à Paris and the support of the Cercle de l'Odéon and LVMH

More information and tickets here.

Legendary theater maker Robert Wilson returns to the Center with a brand-new theatrical production The Old Woman, based on a story by Russian author Daniil Kharms. 

A brilliant, slyly political story written in the 1930s, The Old Woman stars world-renowned dancer and actor Mikhail Baryshnikov and film star Willem Dafoe. With echoes of Beckett in its deadpan narrative and humor, The Old Woman is one of the great works of the Russian avant-garde and tells the story of a struggling young writer.

By Daniil Kharms

Direction, set design, lighting concept by Robert Wilson

With Mikhail Baryshnikov and Willem Dafoe

Adapted by Darryl Pinckney

Music by Hal Willner

Costumes by Jacques Reynaud

Associate Set Design by Annick Lavallée-Benny

Light Design by A.J. Weissbard

Sound Design by Marco Olivieri

Executive Producer Change Performing Arts in collaboration with CRT Centro Richerche Teatrali, in association with Baryshnikov Productions.  The Old Woman was commissioned and co-produced by Manchester International Festival, Spoleto Festival dei Due Mondi, Théatre de la Ville-Paris /Festival d’Automne à Paris and DeSingel Antwerp.

More information and tickets here.

[Les Nègres]

By Jean Genet

Associate direction by Charles Chemin
Associate set design by Stephanie Engeln
Associate light design by Xavier Baron
Costumes by Moidele Bickel
Dramaturgy by Ellen Hammer
Music by Dickie Landry

Production by l'Odéon-Théâtre de l'Europe and co-production with Festival d'Automne à Paris, Théâtre National Populaire – Villeurbanne, deSingel campus des arts international – Anvers, Festival Automne en Normandie, La Comédie de Clermont-Ferrand Scène Nationale 

With the Festival d'Automne à Paris and the support of the Cercle de l'Odéon and LVMH

More information and tickets here.