Ruhrfestspiele from May 1st to June 13 th will not take place - autumn festival in planning

The Ruhrfestspiele 2020 cannot take place as planned due to the current developments in connection with the coronavirus. The cancellation is based on the recommendation of the district and the city of Recklinghausen in coordination with the Ministry of Culture and Science of the State of North Rhine-Westphalia due to the currently valid orders to contain the spread of the coronavirus, to protect the health system from massive strains and to protect particularly endangered people from infection.

"Extraordinary situations call for extraordinary measures. In the long history of the Ruhrfestspiele there has never been a cancellation before. It is not only very bitter for the loyal visitors. A cancellation of the Ruhrfestspiele after a planning phase of one and a half years is also a deep disappointment for all employees, the artists, the shareholders and last but not least for the city of Recklinghausen. The entire Ruhrfestspiele team is therefore joining forces to find an attractive alternative. A possible postponement of a sub-programme of the Ruhrfestspiele into the autumn is currently being examined at full speed in all directions". Olaf Kröck, Director of the Ruhrfestspiele

Containment of the virus is the top priority. In addition, in the current situation, the further preparations for this year's festival programme lack the necessary planning security. The currently enacted regulations on international travel, border closures, restrictions on public assembly opportunities, theatre closures and the need to stop rehearsals make it impossible to prepare and implement the approximately 90 productions from 20 countries responsibly and reliably.

We very much regret this development and would like to thank the artists, the participating theatres and groups, the shareholders as well as all other sponsors, partners, supporters and all other parties involved for the cooperation so far. And we thank you, our audience, for your loyalty and your enormous interest in the invited productions.

Autumn festival in planning

We are currently intensively examining various possibilities for showing parts of this year's programme in autumn 2020. We will keep you informed in the coming weeks about the status of development and a possible schedule for the autumn.

Tickets

Here you find all information regarding the return or exchange of already purchased tickets. Of course, cardholders can return their tickets free of charge and will be reimbursed the total amount (excluding postage). We are planning an online form to facilitate the process.

Donation of the tickets
Cardholders who wish to waive a refund or partial refund of the ticket price in favour of the Ruhrfestspiele will help us to reduce the financial losses caused by the Corona-related cancellation of the festival through this generous act of solidarity. We will be happy to issue a donation receipt for all non-refunded amounts for the respective ticket value. In this case we would like to thank you very much for your support in compensating for the hard consequences of the cancellation.

Please note that the Ruhrfestspiele ticket office is not open to the public until further notice in order to protect our employees and is currently only available by e-mail and fax. We kindly ask for a little patience for the reversal. The colleagues at the ticket office can be contacted before the start of the NRW summer holidays until June 13th.

Stay healthy!

Best regards

Your
Team of the Ruhrfestspiele