German actor and theatre director, sculptor and university lecturer. Peter Ketturkat’s philosophical and artistic stance has made him one of the pioneers and staunchest supporters in Germany of the Theater der Dinge – the “theatre of things”, which assumes that the properties of a material or object are manifestations of the spirit within it. After studying traditional forms of puppetry in 1978, Ketturkat developed the performance, Keine Angst vor großen Tieren (No Fear of Big Animals), using everyday materials and objects. The production has become a classic piece of object theatre.

His shows for children and adults have no language barriers, as he uses minimal if any text. His work has taken him to among other places Bochum, Berlin, Vienna, and London. In collaboration with other artists, his productions push the boundaries of conventional figure theatre. In these, each player integrates his own personality into the symbolic and sensual quality of the material world as equal components in the development, staging and performance of the plays. The result is a primarily visual form of theatre.

(See Germany.)