It’s very quiet without theatre – so bring on beauty, humour and utopia! Anja Laïs grew up in (West) Berlin and trained as an actor at the Otto Falckenberg Schule in Munich. Since she graduated in 1992, she has performed in many theatres, including the Burgtheater in Vienna, the Münchner Kammerspiele and Schauspielhaus Hamburg. The directors she has worked with include Karin Beier, Jürgen Gosch, Stefan Bachmann, Christoph Marthaler and Michael Thalheimer. What next? Hamlet! Lear! Richard II! Because she finds theatre interesting when it breaks up hierarchies and does away with clichés and traditional stereotypes. The Cologne way of life keeps bringing her back to Schauspiel Köln: Et hätt noch imma joot jejange, et jet immer wat ze fiere – and there will always be something to celebrate, even in (somewhat) darker times.