schauspiel erlangen + Theater Waidspeicher e. V. Erfurt (DE)

In Moritz Sostmann’s production, humans interact with puppets and bring the residents’ portraits to life – as carers, relatives and friends. The nursing room thus becomes a model of the world: who are we, and what remains of us when we forget ourselves? For the first time in its history the international figuren.theater.festival will open with a production by Erlangen’s own theatre, which has been under the direction of Jonas Knecht since this season.

Moritz Sostmann was born in Halle an der Saale, a town with a puppet theatre history. After studying puppetry at the Ernst Busch Academy of Dramatic Arts in Berlin, he first worked as an actor and then, from 2006, as a freelance director. Since then, he has endeavoured to explore puppetry with the means of acting and vice versa. In his productions, the two genres usually meet on an equal footing. He has staged productions in Halle, Magdeburg, Erfurt, at Schauspiel Cologne and in Leipzig. His production of John von Düffel’s ‘Buddenbrooks’ at the Puppentheater Halle was presented in Erlangen in 2009.