Claus Peymann died 88: Legendary director and director

The German-language theater world mourns the most formative of its forming characters: Claus Peymann, who wrote theater history as a director and director, died on Wednesday after a long, serious illness in his house in Berlin-Köpenick. As reported by the artist’s family, the legendary theater maker turned 88. He only celebrated his birthday in June.

Born on June 7, 1937 in Bremen, Peymann’s career began in the politically charged student theater of the 1960s. He managed to break through in the 1970s when he worked as a acting director in Stuttgart. There he came into a tangible political scandal with a call for the dental treatment of RAF terrorist Gudrun Ensslin – an incident that was an example of Peymann’s willingness to use the theater as a place of political statement.

Peymann celebrated his biggest triumph at three legendary stations: from 1979 to 1986 he led the Schauspielhaus Bochum to great success before he led the Vienna Burgtheater from 1986 to 1999 and thus finally became a “crowned theater king”, as the “Süddeutsche Zeitung” wrote. In Vienna, his collaboration with greats such as Thomas Bernhard, Peter Handke and actors like Gert Voss reached their peak. From 1999 to 2017, Peymann finally led the Berlin Ensemble, which he called his “dream theater”.

Even after his departure from the Berlin Ensemble, Peymann remained loyal to the theater. He continued as a freelance director – at the Ingolstadt city theater, at the Residenztheater Munich and at the theater in Josefstadt Vienna. His last staging was Beckett’s “Waiting for Godot” in Vienna in 2023.