IMMER WIEDER SONNTAG

What lies beyond reality? Who can we still believe? Conspiracy theories are no longer confined to obscure internet forums. We encounter them in everyday life, on social media and at the heart of public debate. They promise simple explanations for an increasingly complex world, telling of secret powers, hidden truths and knowledge supposedly held by only a select few.

As part of the Schiffbaufest, the Schauspielhaus Zürich invites you to a talk on MAGIC KINGDOM, the new production by the directing and writing duo Álvaro Nogales and Adrián Perea. Together with dramaturge Rebecca Ajnwojner explores the fascination of conspiracy narratives: Why do people believe stories that defy any form of verification? What makes them so seductive, and when does doubt turn into certainty? The talk looks behind the mechanisms of conspiracy theories and asks what they reveal about our present. A conversation about truth, mistrust and the thrill of the unbelievable.

She is a passionate crime fiction enthusiast and one of the foremost Agatha Christie experts in the German-speaking world. In her 2024 novel 'Antichristie', Mithu Sanyal explores not only the “Queen of Crime” herself, but also the wider world of crime fiction and its pop culture. This autumn at Schauspielhaus Zürich, however, Sanyal’s ideas have informed more than just the theatre’s engagement with Agatha Christie’s THE MOUSETRAP. Her writing on colonialism has also shaped the opening production of DIE DREIGROSCHENOPER, in which Bertolt Brecht’s so-called “CANNON SONG” describes the brutal crimes committed by the British colonial army.

For the first edition of IMMER WIEDER SONNTAG this season, Mithu Sanyal will read from her award-winning bestseller 'Antichristie' and talk to Pınar Karabulut, co-artistic director and director of DIE DREIGROSCHENOPER, about Christie, Brecht, crime fiction and colonialism. Why does the crime genre continue to fascinate us to this day? What was Christie’s own relationship to colonialism? And how can the “CANNON SONG” be brought to the stage today?

WITH: Mithu Sanyal & Pınar Karabulut
MODERATED BY: Dominika Široká

Claudia Irro (DIE DREIGROSCHENOPER) and Teresa Vergho (DAS GROSSE HEFT) are among the defining costume designers in the German-speaking world. In conversation with Pınar Karabulut, they talk about how costumes shape characters and what fabrics do to bodies.

WITH: Claudia Irro, Teresa Vergho, and Pınar Karabulut

How does an idea become a sketch, and a sketch become a stage set? In conversation with co-artistic director Pınar Karabulut, Michela Flück, head of design at Schauspielhaus Zürich and set designer for IL GATTOPARDO, provides a comprehensive insight into her workshop and working methods. She reveals the ideas that ultimately became a Sicilian palazzo. And who knows, maybe the two of them will even reveal some secrets about what's in store for EIN SOMMERNACHTSTRAUM.

WITH: Michela Flück, Lea Burkhalter & Pınar Karabulut

On Sunday, following the Swiss premiere of IL GATTOPARDO, we invite you to join a conversation with Pınar Karabulut, the co-artistic director and director of this play, and Duchessa Nicoletta Polo Lanza Tomasi, the author’s daughter-in-law. It was at Palazzo Lanza Tomasi in Palermo, and with Nicoletta Polo Lanza Tomasi’s assistance, that Pınar Karabulut and her team conducted their research for the stage adaptation of Giuseppe Tomasi di Lampedusa’s famous novel. The conversation will take place in the magnificent stage design at the Schiffbau Halle and will be moderated by Dr. Mattia Lento, a Romanist and film scholar. It will be an exciting event! Nicoletta Polo Lanza Tomasi and Pınar Karabulut will discuss the production of IL GATTOPARDO, the facts and myths surrounding it, Luchino Visconti’s legendary film adaptation and the Netflix series, as well as the role of women in the novel.

WITH: Pınar Karabulut, Duchessa Nicoletta Polo Lanza Tomasi, u. a.
MODERATION: Dr. Mattia Lento (University of Zurich)

Under the name IMMER WIEDER SONNTAG (ALWAYS SUNDAYS), in the new season, we want to present works that we are enthusiastic about in a matinee format. We're starting with the Swiss premiere of PALO SANTO, the first novel by Berlin author and publisher Sascha Ehlert. The novel tells of a dreamlike journey through a Los Angeles that perhaps never existed. The great film artist Billy Wilder is also featured. We will present the novel in an exclusive staged reading.

WITH: Sascha Ehlert, Zeynep Bozbay & Florian Voigt
MODERATION: Barbara Higgs

On Sunday of our opening week, we invite you to an artistic and discursive gathering at the Schiffbau. In the 2025/26 season, exclusively women will be directing here. This is a welcome opportunity to get to know artists who are directing in Zurich for the first time and shaping contemporary theater.

The Swiss contemporary dramatist Katja Brunner will kick things off, unfolding her linguistic artistry in the theater space. This will be a preview of her performative series, "Brunner," which starts this season. Afterwards, directors Pınar Karabulut, Marie Schleef, Claudia Bossard, and Mable Preach will gather for a discussion on the topic of contemporary theater practice: What wishes, dreams, concerns, and questions allow their theater to flourish?

We'll round off the program with a literary performance. Author and director Dîlan Z. Çapan will read from her lyrical-essayistic texts, which primarily deal with empty spaces, the limits of what can be said, and the power of language.

WITH: Katja Brunner, Dîlan Z. Çapan, Pınar Karabulut, Marie Schleef, Claudia Bossard & Mable Preach