International Festival for Contemporary Puppet and Object Theatre
Every autumn, Berlin transforms into a center for contemporary object and puppet theater: "Theater der Dinge," the international festival of Schaubude Berlin, brings together artists from all over the world who rethink, expand, and challenge the genre. The festival is considered a significant source of inspiration for current developments in this multifaceted art form.
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Theater der Dinge Internationales Festival_Key Visual
Schaubude Berlin
The next edition will take place from October 31 to November 5, 2025, at six different venues across Berlin. This year's theme, "Autonomous Objects," explores how things detach themselves from their creators, suggest their own actions, and even become subjects themselves.
What happens to our world when things increasingly appear to act autonomously? This is the question posed by this year's edition of the international festival Theater der Dinge (Theatre of Things), which is taking place at the Schaubude Berlin and five other venues in Berlin: based on a wide variety of theatre forms involving puppets, robots and objects, 18 productions, installations and workshops invite visitors to playfully explore the tensions surrounding digital autonomy.
In ‘What Humanity Taught Us’, Catalan artist Karla Kracht uses puppetry, drawings, video and technology to imagine the rituals and myths of a post-human world, while Belgian choreographer Ugo Dehaes attempts to recreate the mechanisms of the human skeleton in his unique blend of robotics, dance, futuristic satire and philosophy. La Méta-Carpe from France transforms the Heinrich Böll Library into a future laboratory full of hybrids between animals and plants, Austrian artist Silke Grabinger takes to the stage with her robot dog ‘Spot,’ and puppeteer Elena Sofie Böhler wonders what will change in a society where relationships with artificial intelligence become commonplace. A robot workshop for families, puppet karaoke and the festival breakfast round off the programme.
Theatre of Things 2025
Autonomous Objects
International Festival of Contemporary Puppet and Object Theatre
31 October – 5 November 2025
Venues:
Schaubude Berlin, bat-Studiotheater, DOCK 11, Heinrich Böll Library, Ernst Busch Academy of Dramatic Arts and TATWERK
Look forward to a program that renegotiates the boundaries between matter, body, and narrative—experimental, political, sensual, and surprisingly vibrant.
