Date not yet confirmed, expected to be May or June 2026

‘The loving, open-hearted men play without reason, rejoicing because they are joy itself. They imitate the dance of the birds and spread their wings like them. They are filled with the spirit of the wind, the flowing water, the warming fire, the nourishing earth’ [loosely based on Kabir].

This is also what ritual play is about: the focus here is not on acquiring techniques, but on uncovering one’s own impulses and potential in connection with the group. Everything counts, nothing is incidental, the duality of ‘right’ or ‘wrong’ is suspended.

The work is based on a myth, a fairy tale or a dramatic text.

The whole world of feelings, dreams and fantasies is contained within it and reveals itself as a source of ever-new forms: sometimes we are human, sometimes animal, sometimes plant or simply air or fire. In group improvisations with body and voice, with rhythm and space, we trace “archetypal” motifs: the “archetypes of the soul” or contents of the “collective unconscious” (according to C.G. Jung)… This often gives rise to images and symbols of great theatrical power and effectiveness.

Ritual play is a special form of physical theatre in which there is no audience – everyone plays at the same time. After intensive physical work and many exercises in perception, encounter and improvisation, the players increasingly enter a state of self-forgetfulness that many have not experienced since childhood.

The roots of ritual play lie in the work of Jerzy Grotowski, the Living Theatre and the Off-Off-Broadway Theatre. It is particularly suitable for actors or dancers who want to expand their range of expression, who want to get to the bottom of a theme, text or myth – as well as for anyone else who is fascinated by the liveliness and wildness of free play and who seeks the profound experience of being part of something bigger: ritual play also has a spiritual dimension.

General conditions

• Date To be determined, expected to be 5 days in May or June 2026 at Lichtsaal, Thomas-Mayr-Str. 4, 85567 Grafing
• Times Wednesday 6:00 p.m. to 9:00 p.m., Thursday-Saturday 10:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m., Sunday 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. including lunch breaks.
• Participant fee €440 if paid by 31 March 2026 (date of receipt of payment), thereafter €490. ALG II recipients and students pay the reduced rate of €100 if they register by 31 March 2026, thereafter €130.
• Accommodation e.g. Pension Egglhof, rooms from €60/single room or Gasthof Netterndorf, rooms from €45/single room.

Director: Lutz Pickardt, freelance director, theatre educator (BuT), theatre therapist (HIGW) and Roy Hart Voice Teacher (CAIRH)

I learned the Ritual Play in the late 1980s from Prof. Heinz Schlage and later from Gandalf Lipinski, and have been teaching it myself since 2001. Over the years, I have developed my own unique form, incorporating my research into open play systems (Renier Niens), image theatre, contact improvisation, Roy Hart voice work, etc., as well as my experiences from numerous workshops throughout Germany and Europe.