Audience rewards courageous programme
The Theater Spektakel 2016, which closed last Sunday, was full of highlights and – not only because of the extraordinary good weather – is likely to go down as one of the most successful ones in the festival's 37-year history. This is not at all self-evident: Hardly ever before has the programme been so content-focused with the emphasis on resistance and migration. And with 15 out of 44 shows, the programme presented an unparalleled number of spoken theatre productions. The courage of the programme directors has paid off: The festival audience accepted the formal and contextual challenges in a highly positive way and engaged even in demanding artistic perspectives and foreign-language theatre with great openness. Around 26'500 tickets sold, an average capacity of 86% and the fact that more than 70% of the performances exceeded the budgeted margin are clear indications of a successful programming that does not shy away from artistic risk. The freely accessible installations in the new Pavillon, an attractive programme of street art and the varied gastronomic offers attracted around 120'000 visitors to the Landiwiese this year.