Six theatre recommendations to help you immerse yourself in the world by the lake

In August, the world converges on Lake Zurich for a few weeks: amidst sunbathers, street performers and food stalls, the Theatre Spectacle brings some of the most exciting international productions to the Landiwiese. A special atmosphere takes hold by the lake: the blue waters serve as both backdrop and stage, and between two performances, your gaze returns to the water, where your thoughts wander a little further and space is created to linger. Artists arrive with their questions, without yet knowing what the answer will be in the end – in a world that is ablaze in every corner and yet full of swift, loud certainties.

For six years, I ran the Theater Neumarkt and curated a programme for Zurich; for me, the Speki has always been a place for works that show what is emerging elsewhere, what is shifting in the world and, perhaps, what this city is missing.

But now to my recommendations.

Young people are constantly being talked about. Mostly by adults. Here, they write their own songs and sing them themselves. Young people from Reykjavík and Zurich talk about first kisses, shame, desire, friendship and all those moments when your own body suddenly becomes a mystery. Very personal, sometimes embarrassing experiences are turned into songs that they share with one another. This is how the festival kicks off on the large lake stage, overlooking the lake. It’ll be funny, tender and perhaps a little painful at times. In other words, pretty much exactly what being young is all about. Buckle up for the rollercoaster of emotions, sing along and let’s go.

13th, 14th and 15th August, 9 pm each night
Lake Stage, Landiwiese
Info & Tickets: here

A clap can be applause. Or a blow. Two artist friends from Lithuania and Belarus stand facing each other, whilst Russia’s war of aggression against Ukraine continues to further strain relations between their countries. They clap, they strike, they step back, they draw closer again. The work focuses on the bodies, on friendship, and on the question of how one can still communicate with one another when everything is drifting apart. They discuss responsibility, fear and resistance, without creating simplistic enemy stereotypes and without the promise of a swift reconciliation. Anyone who wants to see what is still possible between two people when politics turns everything upside down should go and see it.

15 August, 9.00 pm
16 and 17 August, 7.00 pm on both days
Rote Fabrik, Fabriktheater
Information & tickets: here

Sometimes theatre doesn’t need to explain the world, but simply to loosen up the hips and lift the spirits. Ivo Dimchev takes to the stage as a queer operetta guru with Club Med instructor ambitions, blending Johann Strauss, karaoke and gymnastics into a rather wild mix. The audience is invited to sing along, move around and leave their inhibitions at the cloakroom for eighty minutes. Amidst waltzes, workouts and good humour, the show ultimately tackles desire, sexual self-determination, toxic relationships and loneliness. Perhaps a boisterous atmosphere is, in itself, a political tactic. So if you fancy having a laugh, working up a sweat and letting yourself be thrown off balance a little: go along.

15 August 2026, 9.30 pm
16 August 2026, 8.30 pm
17 August 2026, 8 pm
Rote Fabrik, Aktionshalle
Info & last-minute tickets: here

Five performers, a black piano and the music of Julius Eastman. From these elements, the Brazilian choreographer Calixto Neto crafts an evening that is at once delicate, physical and full of tension. It explores Black, queer experiences, everyday racism, exhaustion and vulnerability, but also what can emerge when bodies support one another and resistance takes hold. Nothing is spelled out; much remains in the movement, the voices and the music. For me, one of the best dance pieces of the season. A must-see.

18, 19 and 20 August 2026, 7 pm each evening
Nord, Landiwiese
Info & Tickets: here

The two Lebanese artists, Joana Hadjithomas and Khalil Joreige, tell the story of an archaeological discovery that immediately becomes a political chasm: beneath a Palestinian refugee camp in northern Lebanon, the remains of the ancient Roman city of Orthosia have been unearthed. Suddenly, a long-sought-after past lies beneath a place where Palestinian refugees have lived since 1948. Which ruins will be protected, and which people will have to make way once again? Here, history lies in layer upon layer, and every excavation reopens fresh wounds. A play that lingers in your mind for months afterwards and creates a sense of vertigo all of its own.

27, 28 and 29 August, 7 pm each evening
Rote Fabrik, Fabriktheater
Info & Tickets: here

You order a pizza and wait for the meaning of life. Both can take a while. The New York-based performance group led by Kelly Copper and Pavol Liška has, for years, been brilliant at taking the mundane to such extremes that it suddenly becomes existential. A harmless pizza party veers into the afterlife, followed by line dancing, chamber opera, a musical, melodramatic heroic deeds and a Zurich choir. An evening somewhere between death and pizza: offbeat, masterful, over-the-top and, for all its nonsense, quite moving. Anyone who still believes a pizza party is a harmless evening out should definitely go along. And there really is pizza.

28 August, 7 pm
29 August, 9.30 pm
30 August, 7 pm
Nord, Landiwiese
Info & Tickets: here

And perhaps the best thing about the Speki is that you don’t go straight home after a performance. You step out onto the lake again, carry on chatting or simply sit in silence together. The images linger for a while, as do some questions. And for a few weeks, the city feels bigger than it really is.

P.S.: A little tip on a personal note

I accompanied the Chilean theatre maker Nicolás Lange during his final project at DAS Theatre Amsterdam. In *The Killing of the First Person*, he tells the story of homophobia, beginning in Florence in the Middle Ages and continuing to the present day. A visually and linguistically powerful piece that is now celebrating its world premiere on an international festival stage.

Info & Tickets: here