2026TIFA 柏林德意志劇院 ✕ 克里斯多福．魯賓《不過就是世界末日》

國家兩廳院 NTCH

Can home ultimately still be a place of encounter, or do the years of isolation weigh too heavily?

Playwright Jean-Luc Lagarce’s masterpiece, adapted by Xavier Dolan into a film of the same name, returns to the stage!

After 12 years, a young man returns from the big city where he had a successful career to his hometown. He is suffering from a terminal illness and under the weight of a lifelong secret. Before his demise, he revisits the place where he began, bringing his identity as a terminally ill gay man. Can home ultimately still be a place of encounter, or do the years of isolation weigh too heavily?

Christopher Rüping, known as a theatrical chameleon with an award-winning reinterpretation of playwright Jean-Luc Lagarce’s masterpiece, which has also been adapted for the screen by film director Xavier Dolan. With Rüping’s signature methods, he emphasizes interactivity and the gathering of collective energy, directly dismantling and reassembling complex scenography to engage in dialectical discussions of socioeconomic class and homophobia, as well as family structure and meaning. Undulating gaps are caught on camera and projected in real time, creating dramatic close-up shots, while confronting multiple emotional and spiritual narratives.

©Thomas Aurin

©Thomas Aurin

Christopher Rüping

Born in Hanover in 1985, he studied directing at Hamburg Theatre Academy and Zurich University of the Arts. Rüping’s creative style combines tenderness with passion, creating free spaces for actors to engage authentically with themselves and the audience, establishing him as one of the most influential directors in contemporary German-language theatre.From 2016 to 2019, he served as resident director at Munich Kammerspiele, and has since continued at Schauspielhaus Zürich. He excels at creating high-energy works that blend exquisite stagecraft, powerful live music, and bold performances into compelling theatrical experiences.Rüping has been invited to Berliner Theatertreffen four times: in 2015 with Das Fest (Schauspiel Stuttgart); in 2018 with Brecht’s Drums in the Night (Munich Kammerspiele); in 2019 with the ten-hour Dieses Wilde Nichts alongside Lagarce’s Just the End of the World (Schauspielhaus Zürich); and in 2022 with Das neue Leben.

Theater heute magazine awarded him Young Director of the Year (2014, 2015) and Director of the Year (2019). In 2021, his Just the End of the World was voted Production of the Year. In March 2025, he received the Berlin Theatre Prize. His works have been performed at major international festivals including Fajr Festival Tehran, Taiwan International Festival of Arts, Theatre Olympics St. Petersburg, Meng Jinghui Theatre Festival Beijing, and German Theatre Festival Prague.

Credits

Director｜Christopher Rüping

Stage Design｜Jonathan Mertz

Costume Design｜Lene Schwind

Music｜Matze Pröllochs

Dramaturgy｜Katinka Deecke, Malte Ubenauf/ Bernd Isele

Light Design｜Frank Bittermann/ Robert Grauel

BASED ON Jean-Luc Lagarce and on a translation by Uli Menke

Actresses and actors｜Maja Beckmann, Corinna Harfouch, Nils Kahnwald, Benjamin Lillie, Wiebke Mollenhauer, Matze Pröllochs

Director’s Assistant｜Natascha Zander

Stage Manager｜Andreas Grimmert

Prompter｜Anna Gyapjas

Technical Management｜Marco Fanke

Technical Set-up｜Enrico Knorr

Props｜Luise Krolik, David Spitzbarth, Marco Weihrauch

Sound｜Marcel Braun, Björn Mauder

Video｜Jonas Klipp

Dresser｜Sandra Luber, Inga-Brit Wassmann

Make-up｜Julia Berten

Tour Management｜Christine Drawer

Production｜Deutsches Theater Berlin – Takeover from Schauspielhaus Zürich

Special Thanks to｜Deutsches Institut Taipei, Goethe-Institut Taipei