September/October at the Sophiensæle

With five premieres and numerous guest performances and revivals, the Sophiensæle open the autumn season and present the program for September and October 2025.

Boglárka Börcsök & Andreas Bolm open the season on September 10 with the premiere of Subjoyride. This new work invites the audience to enter into a physical dialogue with the poetic oeuvre of the German Dadaist Baroness Elsa von Freytag-Loringhoven (1874–1927).

From September 11, the premiere of CROWD CONTROL by Oliver Zahn will be presented. Seven performers transpose police tactics and practices of embodiment, categorization, and rehearsal – usually classified as “restricted” – into the theater’s black box.

From October 8, we present the new work Hello by Olivia Hyunsin Kim/ddanddarakim. Drawing on research and interviews, this interactive performance, together with the audience, questions superficial and one-sided assumptions about North Koreans.

For the premiere of tied to tones, Camille O (fka Hans Unstern) & Jule Flierl create a harp installation made of piano wire spanning the entire Sophiensæle canteen, played with bodies, voices, and prostheses.

From October 23, the premiere of Justin F Kennedy’s Apocalypso follows. Both choreography and speculative opera, it explores the end of the world through an Afro-pessimistic lens. At its center is the sea – as body, archive, and space of memory and becoming.

The German premiere of Fourth Eye, 4.40 AM will be shown from September 19. Ceylan Öztrük last appeared at the Sophiensæle in summer 2023, captivating a sold-out Festsaal with sharp humor and an impressive light-sound choreography. Now, following its world premiere in Zurich, Öztrük brings the new work directly to Berlin.

With Sukkot: hosting the hosts, Ariel Efraim Ashbel and friends create a performance as an inclusive, living ritual over five days starting October 8 in the Festsaal. And from October 24, Melanie Jame Wolf celebrates the 10th anniversary of her performance MIRA FUCHS together with the audience.

Autumn will also see the return of three acclaimed works: the sold-out-at-premiere MASTEKTOMIE. Ein bittersüßes Abschiedslied by CHICKS*, LOUNGE by Marga Alfeirão with Mariana Benenge, Myriam Lucas & Shaka Lion, and the true-crime performance Autsch – Warum geht es mir so dreckig? by Simone Dede Ayivi & collaborators, which will be restaged in October and November.

We are also looking forward to the launch of Brüche und Kontinuitäten, a forum for remembrance culture, artistic research, and social dialogue. As part of this two-part project, the Sophiensæle address the history of their own building. Two historical guided tours will also offer opportunities to learn more about the Sophiensæle’s past.