World permiere “Tanzende Idioten” by Thorsten Lensing
On four evenings from 15 to 18 January the Performing Arts Season 2025/26 presents “Tanzende Idioten” (“Dancing Idiots”), the new stage play by Thorsten Lensing with texts by Denis Johnson and original quotations from the NASA Apollo lunar missions. The production, which is co-produced by the Berliner Festspiele, features Sebastian Blomberg, André Jung, Ursina Lardi, Karin Neuhäuser and percussionist Willi Kellers.
„Tanzende Idioten“
by Thorsten Lensing
with texts by Denis Johnson
original quotations from the NASA Apollo lunar missions
World premiere
Do, 15. Januar, until Sa, 17. Januar 2026, each case 19:30-22:30 Uhr
So, 18. Januar 2026, 18:00-21:00 Uhr
Haus der Berliner Festspiele, Main Stage
Goldie is doing what she loves to do most: remodelling her house. Her joy is as infectious as it is unsettling, because Goldie is terminally ill. Goldie’s father, newly in love, arrives with his girlfriend. The deliriously happy father finds himself at his daughter’s deathbed. He believes that he is at a new beginning, she knows she is at the end.
Once again, the whole world floods into Goldie’s room, everything that’s hard to say goodbye to; forests, animals, the sea. The second part of the evening recounts Goldie’s dying. The habitat of Earth is transcended and within seconds the small room becomes outer space.
This entire work was inspired by two sentences from a story by Denis Johnson. In them, he describes a man drawing up home renovation plans as he is dying. His cat is lying on top of him, asleep. Based on this passage, Thorsten Lensing wrote the text for “Dancing Idiots”, repeatedly using phrases, fragments and dialogues from other works by Johnson. Of his own work, Johnson once said: “I’d describe my characters the same way I’d describe myself: We are dancing idiots.”
Thorsten Lensing will once again be working together with his long-term artistic collaborators: Sebastian Blomberg, André Jung, Ursina Lardi, Karin Neuhäuser and percussionist Willi Kellers play survivors on course for their next catastrophe. What distinguishes them is an absurd mixture of brutality and tenderness, anarchy and metaphysical instincts, existential pain and lust for life.
The essay “As Much Life as Possible” by Dan Kolber, dramaturg for the production, provides insight into the rehearsal process.
Tothe Berliner Festspiele media library
Thorsten Lensing has been staging independent productions since the mid-1990s, often in co-production with theaters and festivals that include the Schauspielhaus Zürich, Sophiensæle Berlin, Kampnagel Hamburg, Künstler*innenhaus Mousonturm Frankfurt, Düsseldorfer Schauspielhaus, Theater im Pumpenhaus Münster, Grand Théâtre de la Ville de Luxembourg, Ruhrfestspiele Recklinghausen, Schauspiel Stuttgart, Münchner Kammerspiele, and deSingel Antwerp. He always works with the same core team of outstanding actors. In 2009 the production “The Run to the Sea. An Idyll” directed by Thorsten Lensing received its world premiere at the Berliner Festspiele. Following his adaptations of Dostoevsky’s “The Brothers Karamazov” (Friedrich Luft Prize 2014) and David Foster Wallace’s “Infinite Jest” (invited to Theatertreffen 2019), the 2024 presentation of Thorsten Lensing’s first self-written play “Verrückt nach Trost” premiered at Salzburger Festspiele in 2022 as part of the 2024/25 Performing Arts Season and launched a long-term co-operation with Berliner Festspiele. This partnership with the Berlin-based director and author, whose work has been successful across Europe, continues with the world premiere of “Dancing Idiots”.
A production by Thorsten Lensing in co-production with Berliner Festspiele, Wiener Festwochen, Les Théâtres de la Ville de Luxembourg, Kampnagel Internationale Kulturfabrik Hamburg, Schauspiel Stuttgart, Asphalt Festival Düsseldorf, Kurtheater Baden and Theater im Pumpenhaus Münster – supported by Kunststiftung NRW.
Audio description of “Tanzende Idioten”
The performance on Saturday, 17 January 2026, at 19:30 h at the Haus der Berliner Festspiele will offer audio description in German. A haptic tour will take place from 17:30 h with pre-boarding and an introduction in the auditorium from 19:00 h. The audio descriptive introduction will also be available as an MP3 download on the Berliner Festspiele website from 15 January.
More information about audio description
We will be happy to help with requests for interviews and/or accreditation: akkreditierung@berlinerfestspiele.de
Up to date production images will be available for download from January 2026 in the Performing Arts Season press section of our website.
Save the Date
The programme for the season will conclude on 24 and 25 January 2026 at the Haus der Berliner Festspiele with the international co-production “Último helecho” by the artists Nina Laisné and François Chaignaud with guest star Nadia Larcher. Their poetic and fairy tale-like performance features music, song and dance in equal measure and presents an encounter between the Baroque and South American folklore and mythology.
Press Contact
Sara Franke, Anna Hinz
+49 30 254 89 269 / 132
presse@berlinerfestspiele.de