Antú Romero Nunes Brings Industrial Drama to Hamburg’s Thalia Theater: A 24/7 Smoke-Filled Vision by Katja Weise

Antú Romero Nunes has brought Charles Dickens’ novel “Hard Times” to the stage at Hamburg’s Thalia Theater, transforming the industrial tale into a musical theater experience that explores humanity, imagination, and social justice in a world governed by machines and suppressed emotions.

The production, described as taking place in the fictional northern English industrial city of Coketown, portrays a society where strict rules, rigid reason, and harsh conditions dominate daily life. Romero Nunes’ adaptation frames the narrative as a search for human connection amidst mechanized existence.

Romero Nunes, born in Tübingen in 1983 to a Portuguese father and Chilean mother, began his theater career at Theater Lindenhof before working as a directing assistant in Chile for theater and film productions. He completed his directing studies at the Hochschule für Schauspielkunst Ernst Busch in Berlin in 2009, with his diploma production of Schiller’s “Der Geisterseher” earning an invitation to the Festival Radikal jung that same year.

From 2010 to 2013, Romero Nunes served as Hausregisseur at Berlin’s Maxim Gorki Theater, where his production of “Die Räuber” received the Friedrich-Luft-Preis. He made his opera directorial debut in 2014 at the Bayerische Staatsoper and subsequently worked with the Komische Oper Berlin and Grand Théâtre de Genève.

Between 2014 and 2019, Romero Nunes held the position of Hausregisseur at Hamburg’s Thalia Theater, establishing himself as a creator of visually striking, intelligent, and surprisingly comedic productions. His work during this period was presented internationally in China, Chile, Mexico, and France.

Since 2020, Romero Nunes has served as Co-Director of the acting division at Theater Basel, where he shares leadership with dramaturgs Anja Dirks and Inga Schonlau, along with actor Jörg Pohl. His Basel production of “Ein Sommernachtstraum” was invited to the Berliner Theatertreffen in 2023.

The Thalia Theater’s staging of “Hard Times” represents Romero Nunes’ continued engagement with literary classics through contemporary theatrical language, following previous internationally recognized works such as “Die Odyssee – Eine Irrfahrt nach Homer,” which was presented at the Berliner Theatertreffen in 2018.