Till Eulenspiegel - Master of Unmasking - Strünkeder Sommer 2026

What foolish times these are! The world seems to be lurching, democracies are wobbling, autocrats juggle human rights. Polarisation, hate speech and the coarsening of public debate have become the norm. What counts as "opinion" today - and what is already an attack on open society?

NN Theater Köln confronts these troubling developments through theatre - opening up space for exchange, reflection and humour.

With TILL EULENSPIEGEL, the company reaches for one of the most iconic figures in European cultural history. Master of mirroring. Seducer and jack-of-all-trades. Trickster, thief and jester. Reduced to a laughing stock, demoted to a clown. Myth, devil and object of longing.

For centuries, Till has held a mirror up to society - sometimes slyly, sometimes painfully, sometimes hilariously. Every era has its Till, every generation needs its mirror. Times without reflection and without humour are cruel and impoverished. But too many mirrors are already shattered today - and we gather the shards to build a new, shimmering mosaic of fun, joie de vivre and wit, without shying away from the darker notes of comedy.

Till Eulenspiegel sheds his medieval cloak and plunges into the present, true to his motto: play the fool and be cunning! Now a rogue with a finger on the wound, now a sad clown with many names: the word-twister, the close-looker, the listener-between-the-lines. And today? A stand-up comedian, a jailed activist, or a global social-media star?! An activist, a content creator, or a secret artists' collective in the vein of Banksy?

Where does comedy end? Who gets to decide what things mean? And does it come down, as it always has, to: he who laughs last, laughs loudest?

Audiences can look forward to a vivid theatrical spectacle - full of playful energy, rapid-fire role changes, live music and a dizzying rollercoaster of nonsense and meaning.