After years of the coronavirus pandemic, the theatre seems to have come alive once again. The recent guest appearance at the Croatian National Theatre (HNK) of Thomas Ostermeier, a theatre director working for Schaubuhne, opened many questions with the content of the play, but also the performance itself. How should a theatre operate in contemporary times? Is Vernon Subutex, Generation X's "loser" hero from the novel by Virginia Despentes on which Ostermeier's play is based, a reflection of the "dying" old theatre which cannot keep up with the times? N1's Ivana Dragicevic, author of the Global Fokus programme, spoke to Thomas Ostermeier about the theatre, Germany, and the political zeitgeist.