# society # democracy # digitality

The international figuren.theater.festival Erlangen, Nuremberg, Fürth, Schwabach is much more than a series of guest performances. The Young Forum International, workshops, post-show talks and other discursive and participatory formats deal with contemporary puppet, visual and object theatre and with the themes of the specific pieces of this festival. There are also accessible offers and projects of cultural education.

Many theatre artists, especially those in the independent scene, act on the current global political situation. The triennial festival “Politics in the independent theatre” demonstrates this as well as the conference “Puppet Theater and Politics” organized by the World Association of Puppet Theater (UNIMA) last year. Puppet, visual and object theatre offers special prerequisites for addressing and processing complex social and political issues not only intellectually but also experience-oriented and emotional.

In the context of the application of Nuremberg with its metropolitan region as European Capital of Culture 2025 and supported by the Syndicate Culture in the Metropolitan Region, the participating cities took up the challenge to emphasize the content-related and social potential of this year’s festival even more. The social transformation caused by digitization and the changes in democratic structures as well as the interaction between the two phenomena are reflected intensively in contemporary puppet theatre. It is no coincidence that the Performing Arts Fund has just initiated special support for projects on aesthetic research, the expansion of aesthetics using digital technologies and updates on viral communication in puppet theatre under the title “Configuration”. With “# society # democracy # digitality”, we have marked guest performances in this programme booklet, which deal with this complex of themes.

Not limiting the negotiation of democracy to theory, the festival will democratize itself this year. Numerous freely accessible, partially participatory formats in public space, projects in various neighbourhoods across town, feedback stations at the venues as well as new formats in the accompanying programme illustrate this aim. Join in!

nuernberg
Fri. 24.05. 18:00 · Sat. 25.05. 14:00 and 18:00 · Tue. 28.05. bis Fri. 31.05. 18:00 · Sat. 01.06. 14:00 and 18:00
Rimini Protokoll | Germany
DO's & DON'Ts
ca. 120 min
June 1, 2 pm – with sign language interpretation
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erlangen
Sun. 26.05. 16:00 · Wed. 29.05. 16:00 · Thu. 30.05. 11:00
Das Papiertheater Nürnberg | Germany
Das entwaffnende Pferd
ca. 50 min
For children, adolescents and adults that used to be children once | admission free!
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fuerth, erlangen
Mon. 27.05. 18:00 · Thu. 30.05. 15:00 · Fri. 31.05. 11:30 and 18:00 · Sat. 01.06. 11:00 and 16:00
Rimini Protokoll | Germany
Bubble Jam
ca. 90 min
for adolescents 12+
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erlangen,
Tue. 28.05. 17:00 · Wed. 29.05. 15:00 and 19:00
Theater Chemnitz | Germany
Wenn mich einer fragte …
ca. 75 min
May 28 – with sign language interpretation | May 29 – with audiodescription
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nuernberg, erlangen, fuerth, schwabach
Tue. 28.05. 17:30 and 20:30 · Wed. 29.05. 15:00 and 20:30 · Fri. 31.05. 16:00 and 20:00 · Sat. 01.06. 18:00 and 22:00 · Sun. 02.06. 16:00 and 20:00
Livsmedlet Theatre | Finland / Israel / Sweden
Invisible Lands
ca. 50 min
without words
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nuernberg, fuerth, erlangen
Wed. 29.05. 15:00-21:00 · Fri. 31.05. 15:00-21:00 · Sat. 01.06. 15:00-22:00
Eutopia!
Public atelier for a global, future-oriented mindset
Admission free!
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erlangen
Wed. 29.05. 14:00-22:00 · Thu. 30.05. 12:00-20:00 · Fri. 31.05. 14:00-20:00 · Sat. 01.06. and Sun. 02.06. 12:00-20:00
Dries Verhoeven | Netherlands
Guilty Landscapes
ca. 10 min
without words | for one person at a time
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