A Poetry Slam Fills a Former Power Building

Isar Slam runs a competitive reading night, and performers bring original text to a short time limit without props. The audience scores each round, and the field narrows until one writer is left. Muffathalle sits inside the old Muffatwerk building beside the Isar, with a hall that holds a few hundred. Most sets are performed in German, with the occasional English piece. The evening runs in rounds with a break in the middle.

You come in from Zellstrasse, past the beer garden that shares the yard, and staff take entry at the door. The hall keeps standing room at the back and seating towards the front. People arrive early for a seat and drink in the courtyard between rounds. Scoring cards go to a panel drawn from the audience, chosen before the first reader. The bar inside runs through the night, and the garden closes earlier.

The evening starts at 8 on Monday, October 19, at Zellstrasse 4 in Au-Haidhausen. Rosenheimer Platz station sits five minutes away on foot, and trams run along the river late. Seats go to whoever arrives first, which rewards coming before the doors fill. Bring cash for the bar. It fits anyone with German who wants a room that reacts out loud. If you were hoping to follow every line without the language, this is not that.