Goethe Annual Lecture 2023 - Katie Mitchell

Katie Mitchell describes 15 years of working in Germany and how the productions she directed there and the culture she encountered changed her working practice and her view of British theatre.

Katie Mitchell has directed over 100 productions in a career spanning 30 years – many of them in Germany. Her work includes text-based theatre, opera and ‘live cinema’ productions - a unique combination of video and theatre techniques.  

Mitchell has split her time between working in the UK and mainland Europe, and she has garnered many awards for her works in several countries. In Germany she has directed numerous productions, presented at the Schaubühne in Berlin (Fraulein Julie, Orlando) and Deutsches SchauSpielHaus Hamburg (Reisende auf einem Bein) among others. In her talk she will address the differences between theatre making in the UK and Germany and her feminist approach to her work. 

The lecture will be followed by a Q&A with University of Sussex Senior Lecturer in Drama, Theatre & Performance, Ben Fowler. Ben has written about the work of key directors in contemporary European theatre and on the German scene including Katie Mitchell, Thomas Ostermeier and Nicolas Stemann. Publications include Katie Mitchell: Beautiful Illogical Acts (Routledge, 2021), a book that addresses three decades of Mitchell's practice in fourth-wall realism, opera and Live Cinema across major British and European institutions.