Theater festival presents opera about anti-apartheid fighter Nkoli

From an opera from South Africa to puppet theater from Indonesia: the first program items for the 2026 "Theater der Welt" festival have been confirmed. This includes an opera about the anti-apartheid activist and pioneer of the lesbian and gay movement Simon Nkoli, as the organizers announced.

The piece developed by South African composer Philip Miller is not a biographical portrait, but a hybrid evening with musicians, singers and dancers "who welcome the audience to a grandiose ball, full of energy, joie de vivre and with a clear political message".

30 productions from all over the world

"Theater der Welt" is regarded as Germany's largest festival for contemporary stage art. It takes place every three years, with Frankfurt am Main and Offenbach hosting it most recently. From June 18 to July 5, Chemnitz will now become a theater mecca. Nine curators from different countries are in charge of the artistic direction. They will select around 30 productions from all continents for the program, which will be presented in full on 26 March.

The Papermoon Puppet Theatre from Indonesia will be taking part with its play "Stream of Memory", which will celebrate its European premiere in Chemnitz. "With handmade puppets made of wood, fabric and light combined with dance, music and video, the intergenerational audience is taken on a journey through cities, rivers and forests by the giant creature Kali," it says. "Inspired by the longing for closeness and connection, this work tells a story about remembering, forgetting and transience, without words."

A century of Ukrainian history on stage

Another production comes from the Czech Republic. Director Dušan David Pařízek is staging the theater evening "Amadoka" based on the trilogy of novels by Sofia Andrukhovych. It tells the story of a century of Ukrainian history through the eyes of three women. "Driven by the cruelty of the Russian war of aggression against Ukraine, the production searches for a narrative of how the systematic erasure of being and memory works."