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ABOUT ME
I have been working in theatre photography since 1999. I received my photographic training from the renowned theatre and industrial photographer Rudolf Holtappel, with whom I also worked for an extended period of time.

Alongside my medical studies and later my work as a physician, photography has always remained an important part of my life. To this day, my main focus is theatre photography and the photographic documentation of stage productions and performances.

 

JEWISH THEATRE OF THE WORLD

 

 “JEWISH THEATRE OF THE WORLD” is my documentary project and comprehensive photographic volume. The work documents the global landscape of professional Jewish theatre. It is devoted both to theatre stages in the Jewish diaspora and to those in Israel. The official publication date of the English-language hardcover photo book is scheduled for 14 October 2026.

BACKGROUND TO THE PROJECT
Focus: The documentary project concentrates on professionally run theatres that explicitly identify as Jewish, engage with Jewish themes, and preserve Jewish culture and traditions on stage.

PHOTOGRAPHY
For this project, I travelled around the world, photographing ensembles, rehearsals, and performances on location.

FEATURED THEATRES
The documented institutions comprise essentially all professionally run Jewish theatres and theatre companies identified through the worldwide research conducted for this project between 2024 and 2026. A small number of theatres could not be reached despite repeated attempts to make contact; as far as could be established during the period under review, however, these theatres were not presenting any current productions.
A professional organisational and working structure was a prerequisite for inclusion in the project. There are also numerous Jewish amateur and community theatre groups around the world, many of which perform to a remarkably high artistic standard. As the project focuses explicitly on professional Jewish theatre, however, these ensembles could not be included.
The project therefore represents the first worldwide documentation of all professional Jewish theatres active at the time of publication.
The book will be published by Hentrich & Hentrich Berlin Leipzig, a publishing house specialising in Jewish culture and contemporary history.

 
 
 

AVIDITY & ARDENT MIND 

Between 1999 and 2005, a body of photographs was created at the Schlosstheater Moers and Theater Oberhausen that reflects the intensity of those years. They are images of actors, productions and stage spaces, of closeness and distance, of transformation and of those brief moments when a performance unfolds its full power.

 

Avidity and Ardent Mind bring these works together in a two-part edition: Avidity leads to Moers, Ardent Mind to Oberhausen. Shaped by the artistic work during the directorship of Johannes Lepper and by his encounter with the photographer Rudolf Holtappel, Igor Turin documents not only a distinctive period in theatre, but also the development of his own photographic vision.