Die Stachelschweine

– © Barbara Braun / Mutphoto

– © Gunnar Lüsch/mutphoto

– © Dieter Nelle

The cabaret ensemble Die Stachelschweine (porcupines) looks back on over 60 years of colourful history - history of the city and the world, and also that of their own theatre. Their first ensemble, which came together in 1949, consisted of Günter Pfitzmann, Horst Gabriel and the ladies Traudel Dombach, Dorle Hintze and Ilse Markgraf - at the time, they appeared in what was then the jazz venue ‘Badewanne’ (bathtub).

Since then, this West Berlin institution has changed venues repeatedly, until they finally settled in their permanent home at the Europa Center in 1965, where the Stachelschweine remained to this day. Naturally, the ensemble changed over the years - but never their biting wit and thorny political satire. After all, our times are just as thorny today as they’ve ever been, despite all the changes and upheavals of the past - and the Stachelschweine have never been about complacency!

Every autumn sees a new premiere, put together by the permanent ensemble. With music and a lot of tongue-in-cheek, capitalism, government coalitions and big city social behaviour are dissected and made fun of with hilarious satire.

The cabaret currently censures society five nights a week with their "Nichts als die Wahrheit" (Nothing but the truth) programme. Sundays are nights off, and Monday nights feature a changing programme of Stachelschweine classics, like "Besetzt - Politik ist auch nur ein Geschäft" (Engaged - Politics is just business) and guest performances, including "Ein Paar mit (Ge)Biss" (A pair with (over)bite) with Irina von Bentheim and Klaus-Peter Grap, or the hit parade "Die satten Sechziger" (The sated sixties).

Please note that all performances are in German.