Simply an Event
Berliner Ensemble: De Profundis by Oscar Wilde
Jens Harzer has been nominated for the “Faust” Theatre Prize for his performance in Berliner Ensemble’s production of Oscar Wilde’s ” De Profundis, ” directed by Oliver Reese and coming to The Coronet on 02 Oct. The award ceremony is on November 14th.
More than 60 artists and collectives have been nominated for this year’s “Faust” German Theatre Prize. The winners will be announced at a gala ceremony on 14 November 2026 at the Hessian State Theatre in Wiesbaden.
Jury: “Jens Harzer is an existential seeker on stage”
Berliner Ensemble member Jens Harzer is nominated for Best Actor for his solo performance De Profundis. It is his first role at the Berliner Ensemble and his first monologue.
The jury’s statement for the nomination reads: “In ‘De Profundis’, Jens Harzer takes us into the titular depths and abysses of a human existence and lets us look out from there – at nothing less than the world and being.
In a confined space, initially dark, then bright, sometimes bathed in cold, sometimes in warm light, Jens Harzer takes the audience on a spectacular, intellectually sharp, and emotionally profound journey through the inner and outer world that Oscar Wilde endured for two years in prison. At the beginning, Harzer presents a man settling accounts with his malevolent lover, aware of his own vanity yet still clinging to his pride. He clings to his status as an artist, increasingly delirious and insane: driven by loneliness, physical and metaphysical pain. And in the end, he leaves prison a changed man, less redeemed than scarred. On stage, Jens Harzer is an existential seeker, and that is simply an event.“
Carsten Brosda, President of the German Stage Association and Hamburg’s Senator for Culture and Media, is looking forward to the award ceremony and explains regarding the announcement of the nominations: “The work of artists thrives on the freedom to stimulate and provoke through art. In doing so, they give society the opportunity to engage with our coexistence and diverse perspectives, thus developing a vision for the future. This freedom must be strengthened and protected in order to preserve the full spectrum of artistic forms and give creative power space. The German Theatre Prize ‘Faust’ not only recognizes the achievements of the artists, as evidenced by this year’s nominations from across Germany: artists do not need political or state guidelines within which they must produce stories or images. Those who trust in the freedom of art and in artists discover the beauty of a democratic society.”
Jens Harzer has been a member of the Berliner Ensemble since the 2025/26 season. Born in Wiesbaden in 1972, he trained as an actor at the Otto Falckenberg School in Munich. From 1993, he was a member of Dieter Dorn’s ensemble for 16 years, first at the Munich Kammerspiele, then at the Bavarian State Theatre in Munich. He also made guest appearances at, among others, the Schaubühne Berlin, the Deutsches Schauspielhaus Hamburg, the Schauspiel Frankfurt, the Salzburg Festival, the Deutsches Theater Berlin, and the Burgtheater in Vienna. During these years, he worked with, among others, Dieter Dorn, Peter Zadek, Andrea Breth, Herbert Achternbusch, Luc Bondy, and Jürgen Gosch.
In 2009, Harzer joined the Thalia Theater in Hamburg. There he collaborated with, among others, Dimiter Gotscheff, Stefan Pucher, Luk Perceval, and Leander Haußmann. For his role as the Marquis de Posa in Schiller’s “Don Carlos,” directed by Jette Steckel, he was named “Actor of the Year” for the second time in 2011. Since 2018, Jens Harzer has been a regular guest performer at Johan Simons’ Schauspielhaus Bochum. In film, he has collaborated with, among others, Michael Verhoeven, Hans-Christian Schmid, Bülent Akinci, and most recently with Tom Tykwer, Wim Wenders, and Hermine Huntgeburth. In addition to numerous national and international prizes and awards, Jens Harzer has been the recipient of the Iffland Ring since 2019, succeeding Bruno Ganz. The Ring is one of the highest honors for theater actors in German-speaking countries.