Multilingual productions, music or dance… the Bonner Theaternacht offers a great range of events for international and non- German speaking guests:

In the Brotfabrik (Kulturkneipe) the Bonn University Shakespeare Company perform “Willy Eyelash – Free Willie”: Drag King Willie Eyelash is an icon, a glam rock sensation and, above all, a feminist. With the help of his male role models and one or two songs, he wants to convey one thing above all to his audience: How to be a decent man. A solo performance by and with Ellie Lewerenz.

Snippets of Stephan Adly Guirgis’ “The last days of Judas Iscariot” will be performed by moving targets in the Brotfabrik (Kulturkneipe): Judas Iscariot, the prime sinner of the Christian world, vegetates in hell. Meanwhile, in the in-house courtroom of purgatory, two dubious lawyers fight a spectacular battle for their own ego, pardon, for Judas ‘salvation, which comes up with both screaming comedy and deep tragedy. Too bad that Judas himself was never asked. With Beate Linnenkamp and Esther Takats.

For Spanish-speaking visitors LaClínicA – teatro hispano will perform snippets from „¡OJO!“ in the Brotfabrik (Innenhof): “¡OJO!”, The current production by LaClínicA, addresses the cultural history of the eye using the means of theater. The starting point for this is the globally circulating images of the Chilean protests in 2019, of demonstrators with massive facial injuries caused by rubber bullets. LaClínicA is the Spanish-speaking theater group of Bonn Romance Studies. With Olga Cruz, Yanegsi García, Anastasia Muravyeva, Luis Padberg, Elmar Schmidt.

“¡OJO!”, La producción actual de LaClínicA, aborda la historia cultural del ojo a través del teatro. El punto de partida para esto son las imágenes que circulan a nivel mundial de las protestas chilenas en 2019, de manifestantes con heridas faciales masivas causadas por balas de goma. LaClínicA es el grupo de teatro de habla hispana de Bonn Romance Studies. Con Olga Cruz, Yanegsi García, Anastasia Muravyeva, Luis Padberg, Elmar Schmidt

The Bonn Players Youth Theatre Group play „Let’s take care of The Earth!” with original music by David Haines in the Brotfabrik (Innenhof): “Sustainable development was defined in the World Commission on Environment and Development‘s 1987 Brundtland report “Our Common Future”as “development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs”. Well, this future generation wants their say. Using song, drama and movement to deliver their message on sustainability and climate change, they will make their voices heard loud and clear!”

The Bonn Players perform snippets from Mark Twain’s original and by Ron Fitzgerald adapted version of “The diaries from Adam and Eve” in the Brotfabrik (Garten): A fresh adaptation of the story by Mark Twain, this short taster of the full play is a satirical examination of attitudes toward relationships and provides a hilarious exploration of the first ever confrontation between a man and a woman. Lonely and bored, Adam is sent “Eve”, an inquisitive young woman with a love of talking and a flair for giving Earth‘s creatures their proper names. Eve finds herself drawn to Adam despite his many shortcomings, what happens next is, as they say, history! With Adrienne Lindsey, Davis John Kluempers, Tracy Tollmann

The Rhein Ranger tells you in the Euro Theater Central “How plastic changed my life”: Corona changed his life. While theaters were closed, the artist Daniel Breitfelder, who previously worked as an actor, decided to clean up the Rhine shore on his twelve-kilometer jogging route in Bonn. Every day since January. His focus shifted more and more into a different line of sight. Onto a new stage. „I want to use my lifetime to free all my strength to convince people and carry them away that we can and have to save the world: Now. He decided to live packaging-free and vegan from now on. And realized that there is no alternative for him. His old profession expanded. Renewed itself. Turned. A figure was created: the RHEIN RANGER. A figure who, in addition to the cleansing of the Rhine, primarily wants to enlighten people – .The RHEIN RANGER as a symbol of a protector of our Earth and an example of how someone can do something to save our beautiful planet as an individual. „Sustainability means to me waking up. And returning to the essentials of being. It‘s not just about us. Let‘s regain humility, frugality, respect and joy.“

No words and language are needed to enjoy the following events:

Tanzwerke Vaněk Preuß perfom „Zwischenräume“ in the Brotfabrik (Theaterstudio): Nothing is as deceptive as clarity! Tanzwerke Vanek Preuß therefore dedicate themselves to “Zwischenräume”, in which perhaps everything has already been discussed but little has been said. In 2021-23 they will produce the contemporary dance trilogy “Der verunsicherte Körper” and give insights into their upcoming productions.

Perf. 3 / Solo in einsatzstelle25 show a dance performance: “Dance disappears almost at the moment of its manifestation. It is an extreme expression of the present, a perfect metaphor for life. Dancers sculpt space in real time, working inside a form that is constantly in a state of vanishing. We have no artifacts. I find it strangely beautiful to be creating something that is made of us, made of our breath and blood and bones and minds.” (by Crystal Pite). Dance and choreography: Claudia Reiff, co-choreograph: Peter Jürgens.

The Perf. 4 / Global Village in einsatzstelle25 is „a performance, that focuses on shining a light on online and real-life connection. We present situations and feelings which involve digital communication, as well as the gadgets enabling such. The omnipresence of these and the intertwinedness in our daily lives make it almost impossible to ignore.” Concept by Tatjana Rudenko & Marthy Hecker.

At GOP Varieté-Theater Bonn show snippets of the spectacular GOP “Camping colorful and cheerful as summer. The Canadian director Geneviève Kérouac has taken on the biotope of folding chairs, freedom, love, intrigue and charcoal with her world-class artistic ensemble. The result is a sensationally cheerful entertainment cocktail with an extra colorful umbrella: every year the heroes of this show meet on their parcel – in anticipation of big events. And they are inevitable … When balancing on clotheslines, juggling barbecue accessories and acrobatically conquering the space above the caravan, then the guests are right in the middle of the GOP camping world. One thing is certain: after this show, you will have summer in your heart.”

Astatine and Uwe play in the “Haus an der Redoute” bossa nova songs, spiced with tingling anecdotes from the history of Brazil Jazz. What do the Ipanema girl and the aliens have in common? How a bathtub contributed to the invention of the bossa nova sound? Astatine tells and sings of fish and kisses, melancholy and fatal cats. A Bossa Nova concert, seasoned with tingling anecdotes.

The Tanzkompanie bo complex show in the Künstlerforum Bonn “77BEETHOVEN”: Already planned for the Beethoven anniversary in 2020, but postponed to 2021 due to the pandemic, the multimedia dance performance 77BEETHOVEN will now take place on four evenings in the Künstlerforum Bonn this September. Together with the composer Marcus Schinkel and the visual and video artist Lieve Vanderschaeve, the dance company bo complex created 77BEETHOVEN for the extended Beethoven year 2021, a multimedia dance piece with live music based on the content of the “Golden Record”, which began in 1977 Voyager 1 was sent into space with music by Beethoven and a message of greeting to the inhabitants of alien planets. What happens if it is found by beings from a civilization on the edge of the solar system? The contribution for the Theaternacht 2021 is intended to give an insight in advance and immerse the audience in the fascinating world of Beethoven and the influences of his musical oeuvre through the various artistic media – video animation, dance and music.

The Kinder- und Jugendchor Theater Bonn offers at the OpernRasen a potpourri of pieces: from Mozart’s “Allelujah” to Naplan’s “Shiru”, from Lauridsen “Dirait-on” to Minchin’s “When I Grow Up”.

Especially conducted for the Bonner Theaternacht 2021: the Opern Chor Theater Bonn interprets the most successful work in choral literature of the 20th century: Carmina Burana – in a version by Wilhelm Killmayer for two pianos and percussion. Musical director: Marco Medved | With: Lada Bočková, soprano, Albrecht Kludszuweit, tenor, Giorgos Kanaris, baritone | Choir of the Theater Bonn | M. Mach and I. Horvat, piano | Members of the Beethoven Orchestra Bonn

Last, but not least: the Bonner Theaternacht After-Show Concert. This year hosted in the Kleines Theater Bad Godesberg with a performance by Kültürklüngel Orkestar, which you won’t find online, but on the street or on stage. What happens is not in the program, but right in front of you. The Kültürklüngel is an open, musical activist project that was launched a few years ago as part of Carnival celebrations in Bonn’s old town. With a changing line-up, the Kültürklüngel plays, sometimes as a great orkestar and sometimes as a small band, a colorful mix of well-known evergreens and folklore from all over the world. The Kültürklüngel Orkestar is so underground that it is often difficult to say where, when and how they will play next …

(by Jonathan Bahr, credentials: Michael Sondermann / Bundestadt Bonn for featured image, theaters for all other images)