taz: Nurkan Erpulat, with what emotions do you go into the rehearsals for your last production at this house?
Corner Erpulat: With mixed feelings. I lose my artistic home. That hurts. On the other hand, I don’t think it’s a bad thing that something new is coming. It may even be necessary. But I’m also skeptical as to whether the new thing will really be any better.
taz: 13 years ago, your first production here was also the opening production for Shermin Langhoff’s directorship. Chekhov’s “Cherry Orchard” was a family story from the Russian provinces. Now your last major production will be part of Langhoff’s final season Katerina Poladjans “Music of the future” back in the Russian provinces. Is a circle closing?
Im Interview: Nurkan Erpulat
Corner Erpulat came to Berlin’s Gorki Theater as house director in 2013 together with director Shermin Langhoff. He is currently working on his last production at the house, the premiere of “Zukunftsmusik” based on the novel by Katerina Poladjan. The piece premieres on January 24th at 7:30 p.m.
Erpulat: In a way, yes. “The Cherry Orchard” tells of times of upheaval, of how the old no longer works, but the new has not yet established itself. We don’t yet know exactly what’s new. There is just the feeling that it will come and must come. In “Music of the Future” we talk about the day Chernenko died…
taz: … the then head of state of the Soviet Union and immediate predecessor of the reformer Gorbachev …
Erpulat: “Swan Lake” was on television, as it always was when a major party leader died. That day it became clear that there would be a change. There was also a great need for it. We’re not the only ones who see this parallel of upheaval. Katerina Poladjan also quotes in her novel always the “cherry orchard”.
taz: We are currently in a situation of geopolitical upheaval. Does that play a role in the production?
Erpulat: This always resonates, yes, in the novel as well as in the production. But we don’t refer to it explicitly. “Music of the Future” begins with a funeral march. And it should end with a concert. We move in this musical arc. However, this kind of futuristic music does not take place in the novel, nor does it occur in the production. Because what might a dream of the future sound like in a country like Russia, where an 18-year-old ends up in prison just because she sang a song on the street?
taz: You mean sure the singer Naoko. In the song “Cooperative Swan Lake” she sang about the swans that appear on television when Moscow rulers die and also made ironic reference to Vladimir Putin’s infamous dacha complex called “Osero” (lake). She was arrested for this.
Erpulat: And because we don’t want to leave it like that at Gorki, there will be an extra after the production, which I don’t want to reveal yet.
taz: What has changed between these two Russian poles, the “Kirschgarten” in 2013 and “Zukunftsmusik” in 2026, through the post-migrant theater at Gorki in the German city theater scene, but also in the country in general?
Erpulat: The narratives and perspectives have changed. And that’s what it’s all about. Theater is an identification machine. And although it saw itself as progressive, it was blind to the perception of a post-migrant reality. It takes other protagoniststo tell these previously untold stories, protagonists on stage and backstage. They didn’t exist back then. 400 years ago, Shakespeare said that we must reflect society on the stage. This mirror was quite crooked in Germany. That has changed. Gorky was a pioneer.
Theater is an identification machine. And although she saw herself as progressive, she was blind to post-migrant reality
Nurkan Erpulat, Director
taz: As a criterion for opening up the theater business to migrant artists and migrant perspectives, you previously mentioned how often not only the role of Franz Moor, i.e. the evil hero from Schiller’s “The Robbers,” but also that of brother Karl, the torn but nevertheless perceived positive hero, is embodied by players with a migrant background. Have you followed how Franz and Karl Moor have been occupied in recent years?
Erpulat: Unfortunately not. But maybe I should do this statistic. But a lot has definitely happened. Half an hour before our conversation, I walked through the house with my students from the Bavarian Academy of Performing Arts and we passed the gallery of the players who are permanent members of the ensemble or who often came here as guests. And I told them that what may seem self-evident now, what is reflected in this gallery, represented a small revolution 13 years ago.
taz: Did you also come to Gorki in 2013 with this spirit that we are now making a revolution? Or was there also fear and respect?
Erpulat: Yes, all of that. Respect from me. Shermin had courage, a courage that I didn’t have. I even advised her against it.
taz: Seriously? Why?
Erpulat: I said it’s not that far yet. 99 seats in the Ballhaus in Kreuzberg – that’s possible. But this, absolutely not. Don’t do that. My first encounter in Gorki was also rather special.
taz: To what extent?
Erpulat: I don’t know whether I should tell you this now. But okay: I wanted to go into the back entrance. And there was another door that led to the stage sets. I was immediately shouted at by a technician. I immediately apologized and said I work here. “Who are you then?” he asked. “Nurkan Erpulat,” I said. And he replied: “No one can say that.”
taz: People should now be able to pronounce your name, in the house and beyond. How have you experienced the upheaval now? the replacement of Shermin Langhoff? From the outside it looked like a disdainful dump. How did you perceive it?
Erpulat: That’s how I feel too! Of course, not everything has been perfect over the past 13 years. At the same time, I find the work revolutionary. We put together a great program and brought Gorki into play not only across Germany, but around the world. Last year we had 95 percent total occupancy. And I feel like it’s a quick fix that this work is now over and that a lot of people in the company won’t have their contracts renewed.