ABSTRACT
In 2002, the conservative party's spokesman for cultural politics in Hamburg, Germany, and self-acclaimed supporter of the art of theatre demanded to stop funding one of the countries' most renowned public theatres. He claimed the theatre's avant-garde productions featured the same content as the shows in the nearby redlight district, but were aesthetically less pleasing. Thus, he argued, neither form nor substance of this cultural production were worthy of public money (Hamburger Abendblatt 2002). At the same time, the vice president of the German parliament launched a campaign to have the German-speaking theatre industries put on to the UNESCO world's cultural heritage list to help preserve this unique and art-friendly field of cultural production (Laudenbach 2003a). Far from being extreme attitudes towards the state of German theatre, these two initiatives illustrate the discussion and conflict arising around tradition and innovation in the industry.
