Makar Artemev
The Komische Oper Berlin runs backstage tours back-to-back on Fridays and Saturdays throughout its season, which typically spans from September to June. A wide range of specialist tours is on offer, covering everything from costume and orchestra to props, stage design and (the one we joined on a Saturday afternoon in April) makeup. Over the course of 90 minutes, groups of up to 15 people of any age are guided through the labyrinthine backstage spaces of the house, offering a mix of architectural history and insight into the theatre’s inner workings. Leading the tour was Anna Ponnath, one of five tour guides working at the Komische Oper, brimming with facts and behind-the-scenes anecdotes about both the building and its departments. Our tour took us into the makeup department, where we learned how prosthetics, wigs and stage makeup are designed and applied.
Also present was the workshop manager, Sven Hollenberg, quietly working in the corner of the makeup room, crafting a wig base for the upcoming premiere of Orlando. Seeing this level of detail up close offered a rare glimpse into the labour behind performance and just how integral these processes are to character creation. Anna admits she “hadn’t expected to become a tour guide at the theatre”. Originally applying for a different role, she found her way into the position thanks to her previous experience leading city tours in Leipzig. The transition, she says, “was seamless”. We caught her between tours to find out what she enjoys most about offering members of the public a glimpse backstage. The next specialist makeup tour at Schillertheater is on June 6, and then following the summer pause, they return in October. Booking in advance is highly recommended.
Makar Artemev
Anna Ponnath: tour guide
How long have you been guiding the tours here at the Komische Oper?
I started back at Behrenstraße in, I think, 2022. That’s the original building, which is the original home of Komische Oper. It needs restoration and refurbishing so the Komische Oper moved here to Schillertheater in September 2023.
Am I right in thinking this is not your main job here?
I do the guided tours and also I do the surtitles, which is basically a slideshow. I have a score in front of me, and the cues, and then I just follow the music. We have to be able to read music and more or less have a musical understanding. Also before every performance in the evenings, half an hour before, we have an introduction: what the story is about, what the director thought when he did it and things like that. I present that. It’s usually all in German, although the surtitles are in German and in English.
What is it you enjoy the most about guiding these tours?
I like that people can see the work, what’s behind every little thing, because I sometimes have the feeling people don’t really know how to appreciate culture – how complicated it is and how much thought and heart goes into every single detail. People really start to value it more. That I love. Also, I’m a natural entertainer. That’s a more selfish reason, but I love to make people laugh.
Makar Artemev
Are you surprised by how busy the tours are and that they sell out in advance?
Well, it depends. Our special tours are always fully booked, and this was a special day. I don’t know why people are more interested in the different departments. If we have a general tour, then not as many people come. I don’t know why. Back in the old house in Behrenstraße, people had a connection to the building. It’s really special in Berlin. It means everything to them. I had a tour there, and someone said, “I was in a choir, back in the day, in the 80s,” and I’m like, “Wow, crazy.” So, yeah, it means a lot to the Berliners. They’re really looking forward to getting back into the old house. But this one is also really cool.
Would you say the tours attract a largely Berlin-based crowd, or do you also get people internationally or from other parts of Germany?
I’ve had guests coming in from all kinds of places. It really depends. We have a collaboration with a university in the USA, so we have people from there regularly, and tourists also come here. It’s really a mixed bag.
Makar Artemev
I noticed today there was actually more of an older generation, not so many young people. Would you say that’s normal for the attendance?
I think opera is a genre that attracts older generations. That being said, in general, the tours have a younger audience. It depends. We used to have these tours on a Friday afternoon and people work, so maybe this was part of the reason. I would say for an opera house, we have quite a young audience. Of course, we also have the children’s play, specifically made for children and families, and they’re really huge and popular. And it’s also quite queer-friendly because, for example, we have La Cage aux Folles, which attracts different people.
What are the origins of the Komische Oper?
In English, ‘Komische’ means ‘weird’ or ‘comical’. Most people think it directly translates to ‘comedy’, but that’s not quite right. The founder, Walter Feltenstein, was thinking about the French Revolution because the French Revolution made it possible for everyone to enjoy operas. Before that, opera was more of a highbrow culture thing. It still is a little bit, of course, but it used to be forbidden for poor people. So, [the revolutionaries] kind of opened everything up, and the [remaining aristocracy] said, “Okay, you’re allowed to watch operas as well, but there’s an exception.” People still thought they were dumb because they had no money and were lower class, so there was the opéra tragique, the tragic big opera, and then the opéra comique for the lower classes, which is where the word ‘Komische Oper’ originates from. And Feltenstein thought, “Well, that’s a little bit negative.” But he wanted to make it more positive and say, “It’s an opera or an opera house for everybody.” So that was his concept, and it still remains to this day.
Makar Artemev
Sven Hollenberg: makeup artist, workshop manager
How long have you been working here?
Oh, it’s my 15th season. I started around 2010, I think.
What elements do you enjoy about your position here?
Well, it’s changed over the years. In the beginning, it was having this feeling of being near the stage – to get close to the performances, to have this backstage feeling – which made me really excited and took my breath away. Now, it’s more to have these tastes of which direction of art we can do, how we will envision a future show.
And so here we can see you making something, is it a wig base?
Yes, it’s a wig base. It’s for Orlando, which is premiering in May, and yes, we are late.
Makar Artemev
How many people work for you in this department?
We have 14 on a fixed contract and every day we have freelancers.
Do you like working with people? I mean, your job is really about making people into different characters?
Yeah, I like it. I like these crazy and packed times when all these seats are full with people and my colleagues are here and there, some are waiting. It’s also a bit intense. On the other hand, I also like this time, because I have both – I have these crazy times with time issues that demand extra energy for the show and these quiet moments to prepare things.
What do you think is important about these backstage technical tours?
For the people who will join them to have a view of how much work it is. If you see it from the outside, from the audience, it looks easy, and it has to look like that because we don’t want it to look hard. It should be easygoing. But this kind of opera is so expensive because of all the people and work, and this is important. I think people fail to recognise that with every performer on stage, it also requires maybe 10 people behind them to make that happen.
Makar Artemev
So right now, you’re catching up with the wig work, let’s say. What time do the cast start arriving for you to start your makeup job?
Two hours before the show, we’ll start. Usually, there’s also a schedule. We begin with the people who will be on stage first or who need to warm up, the dancers especially, or people for soundchecks. Some of them will come later and they can even get here if the show has already started because their entrance is so late.
You can sign up for guided tours of the Komische Oper on their website.