French masterpieces from the Met

June 1st-October 7th 2007

Berlin’s hottest ticket this summer is this one-off blockbuster at the Neue Nationalgalerie. New York’s Metropolitan Museum of Art is lending some 150 19th-century French works to Berlin (and nowhere else) while its galleries undergo renovation. Expect the queues to be as impressive as the paintings and sculptures, which include iconic works by Ingres, Manet, Degas, Pissarro, Monet, Cézanne, Gaugin, Matisse and Rodin.

“Earlybird” tickets grant admission Tuesdays to Fridays between 8am and 8.30am, or book a VIP ticket in advance (€30, including audio guide).

The Wallenstein Trilogy

Peter Stein has a taste for theatrical marathons: in 2000, he staged a 21-hour production of Goethe’s “Faust”. Now, working with the Berliner Ensemble (a company founded by Bertolt Brecht), the German director is offering a trilogy of dramas by Friedrich Schiller, Goethe’s contemporary. The three plays (“Wallenstein’s Camp”, “The Piccolomini” and “Wallenstein’s Death”) stretch over ten hours at the Kindl-Halle, a former brewery.

The action stems from the betrayal and murder of Albrecht von Wallenstein, a Bohemian general, during the Thirty Years War. Mr Stein is clearly mindful of the ways these themes of war and confusion resonate today. Those with the stamina to last through this epic (there are four intervals) will be richly rewarded.