Oliver Reese remains director of the Berlin Ensemble until 2032!

Oliver Reese remains director of the Berlin Ensemble until 2032!

On July 2, 2025, the Berlin Ensemble announced that Oliver Reese extended his contract as director until 2032. The Reese, born in Neuhaus in 1964 in Neuhaus Castle, has headed the Theater since August 1, 2017. The Senator for Culture and Social Cohesion, Sarah Wedl-Wilson, was pleased with the contract extension and emphasized the central role of the Berlin ensemble for the Berlin theater landscape.

Reese itself describes the Berlin Ensemble as a lively place of encounter and exchange. Under its leadership, the theater recorded numerous international guest appearances, and the number of visitors reached a historical record level. In the coming years he plans to continue the successful course of the theater and set new accents.

Oliver Reeses Werdegang

his interest in the theater was already awakened in school when he was particularly enthusiastic about the Westphalian chamber games. After a high school diploma at Giorgio Strehler, Reese studied recent German literary, theater studies and comparative in Munich. As a result, he worked as an assistant director at various renowned theaters and became dramaturge at the Bavarian State Theater in 1989.

After his change in 1991 as a chief dramaturge to the Ulm Theater and the later position at the Maxim Gorki Theater in Berlin, where he worked from 1994 to 2001, Reese took on the role of deputy director at the Deutsches Theater Berlin. Here he had a decisive part in the development of productions that found international recognition, for example the staging of "Die Möwe".

The importance of the Berlin ensemble

The Berlin Ensemble is one of the approximately 140 public theaters in Germany, who together attract 19 million viewers annually. These theaters, which are divided into Landestheater, Stadttheater and Staatstheater, employs around 40,000 people and have a significant annual funding volume of 2.1 billion euros. The institutions show how important cultural institutions are for society and are increasingly dealing with current social issues.

The theater landscape in Germany is multifaceted and, in addition to large publicly funded houses, also includes numerous independent production facilities and festivals. However, the trend towards frequent changes of articles (approx. 19 annually) complicates long -term planning. The extension of Oliver Reese's contract, which promises stability and artistic continuity, is all the more important.

Overall, the development of the Berlin ensemble under Oliver Reese shows how artistic visions can be successfully implemented in a dynamic environment. The challenges and changes within the German theater landscape require innovative perspectives that Reese apparently strives.