Two times 100 percent 

by Christine Wahl

The directors of the Hessisches Landestheater Marburg Eva Lange and Carola Unser-Leichtweiß in conversation with Christine Wahl about new drama, the Marburg model and the tasks of an ‘ambassador for collaboration and the nonsensical’.

Eva Lange, Carola Unser-Leichtweiß, congratulations on winning the award in the “Municipal and State Theaters” category – and to kick things off, a question that is asked of all the award winners in this series of interviews: Can you name a special feature that distinguishes your theater, a unique selling point that really only exists with you? 

Carola Unser-Leichtweiß: What’s really special about our theater is that it’s located in an old military building that was actually intended as an interim venue – since 1990! Of course, I think it’s absolutely wonderful that we are reoccupying a former military building in this way. But the 34-year transitional period has already left its mark on the place. In principle, we – as a state theater – have a similar flair to the independent scene from which I come. We are very grateful to our strong and great ensemble for their work under these conditions. 

Eva Lange: Theater at a high level with many independent artists in a temporary venue – that’s how it is! And I would add that we see our theater as a large ensemble in which everyone thinks artistically. 

Unser-Leichtweiß: We have all the usual theater departments – the metalworking shop, the carpentry shop, the make-up department and so on – but some of them are only staffed by one or two people. And time and time again, you stand in front of them, deeply impressed and thinking: It’s unbelievable what the colleagues here can do, how they manage it all! As a result of being a theater, for example, the topic of sustainability was a matter of course for us long before it became a social trend. Because we have don’t have much money, we recycle a lot of things. 

8 Personen in schwarz gekleidet stehen vor einem Plakat mit der Aufschrift „Widerstand und Liebe“. Sie lächeln in die Kamera.
© Presse und Öffentlichkeitsarbeit HLTM

There is a staff position at your theater that no other theater has, namely an “Ambassador for Collaboration and the Nonsensical.” What’s behind this wonderful job title? 

Unser-Leichtweiß: Eva and I have been working together for a while now, and it was never the head position as such that interested us, but rather the opportunity to bring together a group of people who want to shape a city – and in the case of the Hessisches Landestheater, the rural area as well. Our current “Ambassador for Collaboration and the Nonsensical,” Romy Lehmann, was an ally from the very beginning, but with her many interests and skills as a performer, actor and director, she never fitted into a preconceived job profile. 

Do you envisage the position as a kind of productive disruptive factor that constantly reminds you not to fall into routines in a cultural institution, despite all the non-artistic everyday constraints? 

Lange: That’s exactly the idea – and I have to say self-critically that there are situations in which this is a real challenge! For example, when the theoretically highly desirable and specially hired “disruptive factor” enters the room during the final rehearsal stress before a premiere and reminds you that dramaturgy sessions are actually scheduled for reflection instead of working through to-do lists at high speed (laughs). But that’s exactly what makes it so special! 

Unser-Leichtweiß: And I have to say self-critically: We couldn’t live up to this claim of constructive disruption in the pragmatism of everyday life. As Hölderlin says so beautifully: “You too wanted greater things…” 

From Hölderlin to Beckett: A project that Romy Lehmann has established at your theater bears the wonderful title “Watch me fail.” To paraphrase the playwright in question, is the plan: “Fail, fail again, fail better”? 


Unser-Leichtweiß: It was about an alternative concept to the constant pressure to succeed that prevails everywhere. Because even in the theater, where the phrase “failure must be allowed” is part of the standard repertoire, the summer theater must de facto work so that we can achieve the figures that the cultural sector expects of us and to which we have also committed ourselves. 

Lange: When we started here in 2018, we were the first subsidized house in Germany to be run by a female dual leadership. It’s easy to forget that today, because collective management has become more established in the theater. But in this respect, our model was also initially an experiment, which – like everything new – carried with it the inherent possibility of failure. 

The “Marburg Model” is now regarded as something to be emulated throughout the theater sector. What’s the secret of your success? 

Lange: We are two completely equal full-time artistic directors who earn exactly the same and both have 100 percent personnel, 100 percent artistic and 100 percent financial decision-making power. That is very important to us. We have established a rule for ourselves: When we make a decision, we both really have to back it one hundred percent. If, for example, I am absolutely convinced of something, but Carola is only 97 percent convinced, we let it go – or talk until the missing 3 percent is achieved. 

A challenging practice! 

Unser-Leichtweiß: Yes, it slows down the decision-making process – but reduces the error rate. 

How often do you disagree? 

Lange: We’re very different directors – and also very different people – but we mostly agree on where we want to go with this theater. For example, I can’t remember an audition where Carola was absolutely thrilled with someone and I wasn’t at all, or vice versa. I had expected that we would disagree with each other more often as a management team. But maybe it has something to do with the fact that we both studied theology. (Laughs). 

Unser-Leichtweiß: But we can also argue. And artistically, we really are totally different from each other – which, by the way, can also be described very vividly when you look at our studies. Eva is a woman of words, clarity and purist stringency – in other words, Protestant – while I tend toward sensual opulence. 

And, thus, Catholicism. So, the crucial question has been answered – but what do you think about the artistic program? 

Lange: Many artistic directors would probably say that nowas would our dramaturgical team but it’s actually true: we want to make theater for the city in which we live and work. We are great networkers and aspire to understand what people are up to because we see our theater as a place where these issues can be discussed through art. 

When describing the theater, you refer to Erwin Piscator, who spent important years of his life in Marburg, and his idea of theater as a focal point of urban society. 

Unser-Leichtweiß: Of course we would all like to be the Dionysia, an annual festival to which everyone makes a pilgrimage – including earth-shattering discussions afterwards. But I think that can really only be a vision. In fact, as a theater, we are a long way from embodying this “crystallization point.” But what we do is analyze urban society and ask ourselves the question: How do we invite people to us? How do we manage to appeal to different audiences? And how can we be a place of democracy? For example, we have an introduction before every performance so that people feel informed, regardless of their educational background. And there is an audience council that works with us throughout the season and describes what it has seen in terms of both content and organization. And every season up to 13 people can attend the performances free of charge with an accompanying person.  

Lange: And it’s really very interesting what the audience council reports back – I see that as a kind of crystallization moment: what was observed before the pandemic, what now, and how important is it really how the wine tastes in the foyer, that the seat creaks and that the fire department emergency exit sign is so bright? These are points that people are very concerned about before they even talk about the performance, and I think this feedback is great! 

Sechs Performer*innen auf Bühne vor einem bunten Bühnenbild mit gemalten Tiermotiven. Zwei Performer*innen halten Bilderrahmen vor ihre Gesichter. Eine*r von ihnen trägt eine Meerschweinmaske.
© Jan Bosch

There seems to be a particular focus on new drama in your program. 

Lange: That’s true, the promotion of authors is very important to us. We are grateful that authors as special as Anah Filou and Amir Gudarzi keep writing for us. It is also important to us – despite the focus on youth and innovation hype – not to lose sight of the established playwrights, and the same applies to the directors, especially the female ones. 

International co-productions are an equally important part of your program; you have a special collaboration with Georgia, for example.   

Unser-Leichtweiß: Although we really are a very small theater, we find this international bridge-building extremely important. That’s why we’ve done everything we can to raise funds for it right from the start. Last year, for example, we were very lucky to be supported by a cultural program of the German Foreign Office and – initiated by our colleague and artistic friend Nino Haratischwili, with whom we have been working for several years – to be able to put on a co-production with the Royal District Theater in Tbilisi: “Why the Child Cooks in the Polenta,” the story of a Romanian circus child. We were able to host several guest performances from Georgia, which is great for the theater scene there, as it gains international recognition, and also for us, because it broadens our own perspective and not only brings the Georgian community to the Hessisches Landestheater. 

What does the Theaterpreis mean to you? 

Unser-Leichtweiß: We are delighted! 
 
Lange: So much so that I actually thought about bringing confetti to our interview and throwing a little in the air with every question (laughs). 

Do you already have plans for how you will invest the prize money? 

Unser-Leichtweiß: We’ve been fighting for a new rehearsal stage since 2018 and it looks like we’ll get one next year. In addition to the responsibility of creating a good space in which all the departments feel comfortable, we would also like to put some funds into the hands of the future users, i.e., our employees. We would also like to launch another project with Georgia. An independent group from Tbilisi is interested in our model of classroom plays and we would like to give them a kick-off for their first project as part of a co-production. We would also think it would be great if our technicians could get new work jackets. They’re quite expensive and we’ve only been able to afford them once so far.