Stream: Berlin Oranienplatz

The final day of summer in Berlin. Daybreak. Can, leaning on his car, smokes a cigarette, losing himself in his thoughts while staring at the Tegel prison. He’s as old as his classic car, a Mercedes 230E, built in 1982. 

Can, the child of workingclass parents from Kreuzberg, made his fortune with fake designer clothes and watches. In fact, he should be paying the price for that now. But he’s not that kind of person. The next morning, instead of going to prison for five years, Can wants to fly to Istanbul. For good.

Berlin Oranienplatz tells the story of a young man’s last day in Berlin. People and places are visited again, which Can has almost forgotten, which have almost forgotten him. The streets of Berlin, Can's parents, his ex-girlfriend, a backyard mosque, a jazz club... Can will say goodbye to the Berlin that made him what he is. But the city, like himself, has long since drifted far apart.

Over 90 years after the release of Alfred Döblin’s Berlin Alexanderplatz, Hakan Savaş Mican writes an homage to today’s Berlin in Berlin Oranienplatz. With poetic video images and live music, as in his previous production Die Nacht von Lissabon, he tells of missed opportunities and the attempt to figure out which life is the original, and which the copy of another.

erlin Oranienplatz is the first part of a trilogy that continues with Berlin Kleistpark and Berlin Karl-Marx-Platz.

Special thanks to Jens Hillje, Ulrike Beerbaum; Dr. Reut Yael Paz; Gökhan D.; Ar-Tur Reisebüro, Vedat Çılgın; Collect Boutique, Sophia Hannß, Johanna Kunig, Rosa Ceesay; Architekturbüro Gränitz; Julian Brinkmann; Janina Rudenska; Sedal Sardan, A-Trane; Berlin.

Photo: Esra Rotthoff
Stage Photos: Ute Langkafel