Acting

On December 11, 2026, the metropol Theater in Cologne will present “Acting” by Xavier Durringer, in the German adaptation by Frank Weigand. In a dilapidated prison cell, two men who could hardly be more different meet: Gepetto, a streetwise crook with a blunt way of speaking, and Robert, an aging stage actor who oscillates between vanity, exhaustion, and intellectual pretensions.

While Gepetto is serving time for fraud, Robert was convicted of manslaughter. But the focus quickly shifts from their pasts to their shared present. Gepetto is fascinated by Robert’s profession and persuades him to give him acting lessons. What at first seems like a pastime develops into an intense game of roles, power, and longings.

The cell becomes a stage; lessons turn into theatrical moments. Robert speaks of precision, poise, and the “sacredness” of acting, while Gepetto, with his rough-around-the-edges manner, is drawn deeper and deeper into this world. Between Shakespeare, Molière, and everyday prison life, the boundaries between reality and fiction blur.