Are German theaters safe places to work?

Berlin's Maxim Gorki Theater has a reputation as the home of alternative, political theater in the German capital. Recent productions have focused on the fight for women's freedom in Iran and brought together a group of artists "in exile."

But in 2021, a cloud descended on the famous theater, when some of those in power and executive director Shermin Langhoff faced allegations of bullying and misuse of power — of creating what German magazine Der Spiegel called a "climate of fear."

The theater, along with other German publicly funded stages, promised to take the allegations seriously and put change into effect if necessary.

But recent research by German public broadcaster ARD shows that 90% of those who responded to an anonymous survey — apparently including former and current employees of Maxim Gorki Theater — claimed to have experienced abuse. In most cases the allegations were of verbal abuse, but several cases of alleged physical and sexual abuses were also reported.

Theater bosses have questioned the representative nature of the survey, given that it was conducted anonymously and without independent fact checking. But according to the biggest union of German theater workers, the GDBA (Guild of the German Stage), the problems the survey highlights are very real.

"We take the survey very seriously. To be clear: It is not a scientific study. The survey itself also explicitly presents its results as non-representative. But that does not make it any less meaningful," trade union general secretary Lauren Schubbe told DW.

"The (ARD subsidiary) RBB team's research shows that hundreds of theater professionals are willing to take the time and feel the need to share their experiences of abuse of power in theaters. It has produced 400 detailed accounts of specific cases, each one of which is one too many."

He mentioned the #MeToo movement and the conditions that emerged through the COVID pandemic as reasons why people may now be more willing to speak out.

"However, we do not conclude from this that there was less abuse of power in theaters in the past," he added. "On the contrary, there have already been the first tentative successes and measures to curb it."

Codes of conduct were introduced

In reaction to the #MeToo wave of scandals, several theaters have introduced codes of conduct over the course of the past few years. But measuring how effective these codes of conduct are is not an exact science.

"This is a situation that cannot be tolerated," Claudia Schmitz, the director of the Deutscher Bühnenverein, an organization that represents 430 German theaters, said in a statement. "The question is how to proceed, and my answer is that the path that the stages have been taking since 2018 must be consistently continued."

Her solution referred to the values-based code of conduct which many German theaters agreed to in 2018 and again in 2021.

Volksbühne, for example, one of Berlin's other major publicly-funded theaters, told DW that "the staff council and the women's representative of the Volksbühne regularly invite employees to a meeting of the Code of Conduct working group. This is an open committee of Volksbühne employees that has set itself the task of promoting a harassment-free working environment."

Claudia Schmitz from the Deutscher Bühnenverein is clear that such programs can work: "It is not just a piece of paper from the association, but an expression of opinion from all members, including the theater directors and artistic directors, who say that we have a responsibility to ensure that the theater is a space free of fear and that we deal with power in a way that does not lead to discrimination or injury," Schmitz said. She also indicated that a fresh generation at the helm of certain theaters may help implement these codes of conduct.

Codes of conduct have also been brought in by organizations connected with German stars who have recently been embroiled in allegations of misconduct in other industries, including Till Lindemann of band Rammstein and actor, producer and director Till Schweiger.

But union representative Schubbe said that such codes of conduct are "toothless" unless they are "backed up by concrete and binding measures such as counseling services, complaints procedures and sanction options."

"In order to achieve fundamental improvements, we must also question what makes abuse of power in theaters structurally favorable and then also change these structures," he added.

Contract length

One of the problems raised by respondents to the survey is related to the length of contracts. Contracts are regularly only renewed every few theater seasons, meaning that those whose visas and residency rights are linked to their jobs may be more vulnerable to abuse and less likely to speak out.

An ongoing dispute between the Bühnenverein, representing the employers, and the trade union, representing the employees, once again failed to reach any conclusions on the topic in June.

Like all performing arts industries, German theaters have struggled to bounce back since the pandemic and the ongoing cost of living crisis.

DW has been in contact with Maxim Gorki Theater about this report, who were unable to provide a comment owing to the theater's summer break.

Edited by: Elizabeth Grenier