ABSTRACT
The avantgardists of yesterday have today gone back to their fringe bolt-holes or returned to the comfort of Germany's civic theatres. Now it appears that Bernd Wilms, previously Artistic Director of Berlin's Maxim-Gorki-Theater, will attempt to rescue what can be rescued. This has required a radical restructuring of its audience and left it perhaps closest to becoming a National Theatre for the whole of Germany, although as a consequence its own profile has become blurred and a logjam of reforms have yet to be dealt with. What is under discussion is not the concept of the historical German municipal theatres with their unique structure and net of stages spread across the country, but their reform. In all areas of German theatre, theatre schools are providing a professionally-educated younger generation. Dance theatre is moving further and further away from classical ballet and profited enormously from crossing over the line separating it from acting as well as performance and live-art.
