Abstract

In 1998, the new Chancellor Gerhard Schröder took up residency with his wife in the new Chancellery close to Potsdamer Platz the rebuilt former hub of “old Berlin”. In contrast to the media hyperbole surrounding the new “power couple” and the cultural promise of what was dubbed “the new Berlin”, Schlingensief’s apparently light comedy, The Berlin Republic – Or the Ring in Africa, took a different position. He portrayed the new chancellor as a farcical figure obsessed with Wagner and Africa and his production took on the dominant political issue in early 1999, which was the debate around dual-citizenship for foreigners. This chapter analyses Schlingensief’s production in terms of its engagement with issues of German neo-colonialism and his negative vision of the “new Berlin” as an Ikea model or stage-set for a theatrical farce in which politicians were immersed in selective amnesia in regard to Germany’s diverse and problematic pasts.