A case for the police? The fight for the Berliner Volksbühne continues

The Berlin Volksbühne is to be occupied! At first there were only rumours, but now there is a website for the project: the “queer-feminist artist collective Staub zu Glitzer” wants to collect 611,200 euros via crowdfunding to cover the costs of a police eviction. As of Wednesday morning, however, there are only seven supporters and 275 euros. But it's not just about the money.

Director René Pollesch and his team should be put under public pressure. Pollesch had announced that in the event of an occupation, he would call the police immediately to have them evacuated. He wanted to protect the employees of the house and ensure peace. This has unnerved his old friends, most notably Sarah Waterfeld, spokeswoman for Dust to Glitter.

Waterfeld knows how to campaign. She was involved in the 2017 cast that rocked Chris Dercon. She brought MeToo allegations to the media, which led to Klaus Dörr's resignation. Should a third director follow? The magazine "Der Spiegel" took up Waterfeld's initiative in a large text last week, a frontal attack.

On Tuesday at the press conference in the Volksbühne, the nervousness and thin-skinnedness can be felt when the article is discussed. The sentence falls: "Sarah wants to play with us". Pollesch says: "Sarah and I were friends".

That's the operetta side: Pollesch was a fan of the 2017 cast, which was labeled a "transmedial staging." And he wasn't a fan of the police back then. According to "Spiegel", i.e. according to Waterfeld, he himself contributed over 300 euros for a van. At the press conference he corrected: It was only 261 euros. And it wouldn't have been the RAF. But the tablecloth has been cut since Pollesch no longer wants a “transmedia production” at his Volksbühne.

The political side is: Pollesch and "Staub zu Glitzer" shared the vision of a radical democratic Volksbühne. No directorship, but collective or platform. Pollesch announced a "total renewal of the theater". But that turned out to be harder than expected. Instead of clearly naming the problems, they cheated their way through.

The radical slogans remained, but the conviction to follow up with more than a few gestures of good will is noticeably lacking. Even now it is said that one is also happy about an opposition like "dust to glitter". Hard to believe.

“Are they artists – or not?” The actor Fabian Hinrichs interjects. A legitimate question: in 2017 it was art, today a case for the police? It is not apparent that "Dust zu Glitter" has an artistic idea for the house that goes beyond a self-governing social center.

"Then they can organize a theme evening or hand out notes," says Hinrichs. In addition, the Volksbühne is slowly getting rolling after a difficult start, the schedule and the hall are filling up. This is one of the reasons why Pollesch and his team have a bad time with the occupation campaign. One thing is certain: the fight for the Volksbühne continues.