German Theatres – Flemish Landscapes: Contextualizing Milo Rau’s NTGent Period

“German Theatres – Flemish Landscapes: Contextualizing Milo Rau’s NTGent Period” situates Rau’s NTG period between the unique theatre landscapes of Flanders and Germany, looking at the long history of Germany’s public theatre model alongside the comparatively more diverse Flemish cultural landscape. It explores Rau’s complex, multi-faceted relationship with these institutions, exploring how Rau builds upon pre-existing innovations visible on both sides of these geographical borders. “German Theatres – Flemish Landscapes” situates Rau’s innovations at NTG among broader shifts in the Flemish and German theatres. Introducing the director’s mission with NTG, positioning The Ghent Manifesto – one of the most important, documents to emerge from Rau’s NTG – within these broader theatrical interests. It then moves forward to situate Rau’s NTG between theatre traditions, looking at how Rau’s innovations at NTG are both inspired by prominent German artistic directors working within public theatres and understanding his success within Flanders’ cultural landscape as part of a series of innovations that have taken place within city-theatres since at least the early 2000s.