Cultural Campaign NRW

Drama, musical theatre, dance theatre, puppetry, marionette, shadow play – theatre is diverse. And theatre is magnificent! Yet, many stages in Germany are facing challenges. Caught in the vice grip of struggling municipalities and uncertain finances on one hand, and dwindling audiences due to TV series marathons and streaming platforms like Netflix on the other, both small and large venues are struggling and facing closures in many places. In populous North Rhine-Westphalia (NRW), still grappling with structural changes, the situation is particularly tense.

To counteract this, the Cultural Secretariat NRW requested the development of a campaign that quickly and compellingly encapsulates the unique experiential quality of a theatre visit without the need for many words. And this experiential quality is indeed exceptional: unlike the solitary flicker of a TV or mobile screen, the stage and theatre constitute a vast emotional echo chamber. Theatre stages grand emotions. And elicits significant emotions in return. This leaves no one unaffected. We've documented these traces – sometimes starkly, sometimes light-heartedly, but always with a sympathetic wink and an almost visceral "aha" moment.