WELCOME TO THE UNIVERSITY PLAYERS
You found the right place to watch, produce or perform (but always enjoy) English-language theater in Hamburg. Find out all there is to know about our various activities, when they are happening, and how to join them!
| Be in a play
Be part a big production performed in the Audimax, Hamburg University’s largest lecture hall. Three months of intense rehearsals culminate in 8-12 shows. A demanding time with wonderful challenges and a great opportunity to expand your knowledge and experience in theatre and meet many people passionate about this art form!
| Improvise
We’re currently building the improv branch of the UP with a regular, open workshop every first and third Tuesday of the month. Our production AS YOU WANT IT – THE IMPROVISED MOVIE NIGHT was the first in a long time to make it beyond campus. Due to popular demand we’re presenting it regularly at DIE MOTTE in Hamburg-Ottensen.
| Write
UP News is a comprehensive program magazine that accompanies every production. The magazine illuminates the production from aesthetic, historical and artistic perspectives. This gives you the opportunity to gain essayistic and editorial experience and to launch a veritable publication.
CURRENT PRODUCTIONS
| COPENHAGEN
by Michael Frayn, directed by Marlon Hoffmann
Premiere: Monday, June 16
June 18-21 / 23-24 / 26
Shows start at 7.30 pm
Audimax, Von-Melle-Park 4, 20146 Hamburg
Accompanying Events
Thursday, June 19th, 6-7 PM | Audimax (Audi 2)
Introduction with director and physicist Marlon Hoffmann.
Friday, June 20th, 6-7 PM | Audimax (Audi 2)
Frayn’s COPENHAGEN: A Drama More Timely Than You Might Want
Interdisciplinary panel discussion on the unsettling relevance of COPENHAGEN, featuring experts from physics, history, philosophy and other disciplines. Hosted by the Verein der Förderer und Freunde der Physik an der Universität Hamburg e.V.
Saturday, June 21st | after the show
Post-show Discussion with the Creative Team.
Photo (c) Friedrich Art
Why did he visit? What did they discuss? And where, exactly, did they even walk? The 1941 visit of German nuclear physicist Werner Heisenberg to Nazi-occupied Denmark to meet his former mentor and colleague Niels Bohr, then potentially connected to the Allied nuclear program, has sparked endless debate. Was the intention personal, patriotic, or both? Did politics get in the way of physics or physics in the way of politics?
Michael Frayn’s Copenhagen stages an imagined afterlife encounter between Niels Bohr, his wife Margrethe, and Werner Heisenberg. The play unravels the personal and political tensions between the two physicists, who found themselves on different sides in WW2. Heisenberg, working for the German atomic program, confronts Bohr over the moral implications of nuclear research. As they circle their 1941 encounter from multiple angles, the play explores themes of memory, uncertainty, and the weight of scientific discovery.
Weaving quantum mechanics into human conflict, Frayn uses Heisenberg’s uncertainty principle as a metaphor for the shifting nature of truth and intention. The characters are trapped in an endless loop of reflection and regret, grappling with the limits of memory and truth, their recollections refracting like particles under observation. The play itself becomes a thought experiment in which the scientists are both the observers and the observed. As they confront questions of responsibility, betrayal, and the civil and military uses of scientific discovery, their attempts to reconstruct the past appear to mirror the way measurement alters quantum states.
Grounded in global military history — ultimately, it was the U.S. nuclear program that led to the dropping of an atomic bomb with its dreadful consequences — the play addresses a tension between science and ethics that resonates today. Debates around AI and quantum computing echo the play’s core questions: What do we owe each other when knowledge itself can be a weapon, a salvation, a commodity? And can we ever truly know the consequences of our discoveries — or ourselves?
COPENHAGEN is presented by arrangement with Concord Theatricals GmbH on behalf of Samiel French Ltd.
The photo shows Werner Heisenberg (left) and Niels Bohr (right) in Copenhagen at a meeting in 1934. Photo licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 2.0 Generic license.
How to join
At the core of our activities are two main productions every year (one per semester). If you want to join our cast, you are welcome at our open auditions at the start of every semester. Usually, this means auditions in October and April but we diverge from that occasionally. You won’t be asked to prepare anything whatsoever, your lines will be given to you on the day. If your passions lie behind or in front of (rather than on) the stage, this is also the right time to come and meet everyone and tell us what you’re interested in. When joining the crew, everyone who wants to be a part of it, will be a part of it!
We are always looking for people in these departments: stage and props, costume and make up, production assistance, directing assistance, photo and video, lighting and sound, PR and social media as well as poster design and program layout. There is also the opportunity to publish an essay in the UP News. Depending on the production itself, we might also be looking for people with specific experience in music, choreography, visual design, dance and so on.
Once the cast is chosen, there will be an intense three-months period of rehearsals. We take our craft seriously, so it takes a lot of time and work, but it is always fun. We usually even try to squeeze a whole rehearsal weekend in there as well, where we really get to know each other and take part in creative and fun workshops.
Get in touch
| Contact us
You want to join a department? You have questions regarding shows, auditions or anything else? As we are usually off buying props or rehearsing in stage, our office is usually not occupied – therefore the best way to reach us is online. Just sent us an e-mail and we will get back to you as soon as possible!
| Newsletter
Never miss a premiere or an opportunity to join! Sign up and we will let you know about all show openings and auditions! Since we know newsletters can be annoying at time, we’re sending out mailings only about four times a year with essential information. Once you entered your email address here, please do not forget to confirm the subscription by clicking on the link you’ll receive via email.
| Our Instagram
We’re sharing all important – and some not so important but still fun – information on instagram. Audition dates, special offers, sneak peaks in rehearsals, trailers, competitions… Follow us there and you won’t miss anything!
| Find us
You are trying to find us for a show or audition? Our stage is located in the University of Hamburg’s Audimax, Von-Melle-Park 4, 20146 Hamburg. The Audimax is located on the ground floor of the building and wheel-chair-accessible. If you have any questions regarding accessibility, feel free to contact us beforehand or let someone at our box office know if you need assistance on the show night.