Boris Nikitin, born in Basel and the son of Ukrainian-Slovakian-French-Jewish immigrants, directs in the international independent scene and at German-language municipal theatres. He is the artistic director of the biennial Basel Festival for Documentary and Propagandistic Arts It’s The Real Thing – Basler Dokumentartage.

As an author, director and essayist, Nikitin has been exploring the representation and production of identity and reality since 2007. The plays seek the boundary between illusion theatre and performance, between documentary, propaganda and fake, e.g. F for Fake, after Orson Welles (2008), Imitation of Life (2009, at FIT in 2014), How to win friends & influence people (2013). In the process, they sometimes completely resolve the contradiction between offensive dilettantism and artistic virtuosity, between concept and grand theatrical gesture. Time and again, the plays are rewritings of classical material, as in Woyzeck (2007), Der zerbrochne Krug (2010) or Hamlet (2016, at FIT in 2017 – read more and watch the after-show talk).

“Like few others, Boris Nikitin is currently leading theatre to a critical point,” writes the German professional journal Theater heute. Since 2015, Nikitin has been intensively exploring the relationship between art, illness, and vulnerability. This theme plays a central role in internationally touring productions such as Hamlet (2016), Essay on Dying (2019, at FIT the same year – read more and watch the after-show talk), Magda Toffler (2022), and in his first museum project The Last Reality Show (Museum Tinguely, 2023).

In 2017, Nikitin was awarded the J.M.R. Lenz – Dramatist Prize of the City of Jena for his complete works. In 2020, he received the Swiss Theatre Award.

His play Essay on Dying was selected for the Swiss Theatertreffen in 2021. His play First Season. 20 Years Big Brother was selected for the Mülheim Theatre Days as one of the seven best German-language plays of 2021.

Since 2022, Nikitin has been experimenting with the form of live cinema (Dämonen, Dämonen Berlin, Mixtape, Kids). His first work, Dämonen, created in collaboration with Sebastian Nübling, achieved significant critical and popular acclaim, as evidenced by recognition such as the nachtkritik Theatertreffen in 2023 and the 2023 Video of the Year award (Theater heute).

< photo Matthias Willi

@ FIT

Kids (working title)
2026 Edition
29 – 30.09 | 02.10 – 11.10

Magda Toffler, or an Essay on Silence
2025 Edition
03.10 – 12.10 

Essay on Dying
2019 Edition
24.09 – 06.10

Hamlet
2017 Edition
28.09 – 08.10

Imitation of Life
2014 Edition
16.10 – 20.10