With the participatory theater production "School Visit Europe", the renowned theater group Rimini Protokoll invited students at six Erlangen schools to trace key points of the development of the European Union in an unusual way, to deal with questions about the big idea of "Europe" together and to playfully discover the complexity of voting in the field of tension between self-interest and community. In "School Visit Europe", the abstract European idea met the reality of a classroom. The pupils became part of the performance and their personal stories intertwined with the mechanisms of political Europe. How much Europe is there in a classroom?

The Erlangen premiere took place on July 11, 2023 at the Marie-Therese-Gymnasium and up to and including July 24, the performances moved on to the Eichendorffschule, the Emil-von-Behring-Gymnasium, the Ohm-Gymnasium, the Albert-Schweitzer-Gymnasium and the Emmy-Noether-Gymnasium.

The results of the individual school visits can be viewed on the following website: https://school.homevisiteurope.org/index.php and https://school.homevisiteurope.org/termine.php

Rimini Protokoll was founded in 2000 and is now one of the most important independent theater groups in Europe. With their work, they open up new perspectives on reality and often work with everyday experts in their productions - people who have acquired and use their knowledge and skills outside of the theater. Rimini Protokoll is no stranger to Erlangen; the group has already presented three productions: "Remote Erlangen" (2015 "net:works" large-scale festival + internationales figuren.theater.festival 2017), "Evros Walk Water" (Erlangen Poetry Festival 2016) and "Bubble Jam" (internationales figuren.theater.festival 2019).

The invitation of "School Visit Europe" to Erlangen is a cooperation of the Office for Equal Opportunities and Diversity / International Relations, the Cultural Office, the KS:ER and the Education Office of the City of Erlangen with the "Partnership for Democracy" in Erlangen and the Franco-German Institute (dFi).

School Visit Europe

A co-production with the Theater der Stadt Aalen and the Junges Theater Heidelberg.
The production of "Schulbesuch Europa" was made possible by special funding from the Baden-Württemberg Ministry of Science, Research and the Arts.
Based on "Hausbesuche Europa" - a production by Rimini Apparat. In co-production with Archa Theatre Prague (CZ). BIT Teatergarasjen/Bergen International Festival (NO). Frascati Teater Amsterdam (NL). HAU Hebbel am Ufer Berlin (D). Kaaitheater Brussels (BE). LIFT London (GB). Malta Festival Poznan (PL). Mungo Park (DK). Sort/Hvid (DK). Teater Nordkraft (DK). Théâtre de la Commune Aubervilliers (FR). Théâtre Garonne (FR). Teatro Maria Matos (PT). The production was commissioned by and co-produced with House on Fire and is presented with the support of the Cultural Program of the European Union. Funded by the Capital Cultural Fund Berlin and the Goethe Institute as part of the Territoria Festival (Moscow).
Concept/Script/Director: Helgard Haug, Stefan Kaegi, Daniel Wetzel (Rimini Protokoll)
Adaptation script School Visit Europe: Daniel Wetzel (Rimini Protokoll), Winfried Tobias (Theater Aalen), Anton Rose
Play director and website editor: Anton Rose
Website design: Tawan Arun
Technology: Hans Leser
Production management: Louise Stölting