Peter Stein

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Peter Stein (born October 1, 1937) is a critically acclaimed German director who established himself at the Schaubühne am Lehniner Platz, a company he arguably brought to the forefront of German theatre.

Born in Berlin, Stein grew up in an era defined by the Nazis. His father Herbert Stein was factory director of Alfred Teves, a motorcycle manufacturing firm that was employed to make automotive parts for the Nazi regime. Herbert was in charge of 250,000 forced laborers. However, he was also involved in the Confessing Church, a resistance group.

Stein has said that these events had a profound effect on his life. After the war, his father was sentenced to 2 years of forced labor for collaborating with the Nazis. Peter's academic performance nose-dived, and he barely made it into Frankfurt University. He then moved to Munich and enrolled at university there, pursuing a PhD thesis on the works of ETA Hoffman.

Having been curious about the theatre since his time at Frankfurt, he became a stagehand in Munich and eventually earned other parts. Proving himself, he was hired as director for Saved by Edward Bond. This piece threw him into the limelight and was critically acclaimed. Politically driven, Stein went on to direct many politically charged pieces, including Vietnam-Discourse by Peter Weiss, Bond's Early Morning, Sean O'Casey's Cock-a-Doodle Dandy, The Changeling by Middleton and Rowley and Goethe's Torquato Tasso.

The theatre that Stein originally worked at in West Berlin was called the Schaubühne am Halleschen Ufer.

In 1970, Stein was selected by politicians in Berlin to take over the Schaubühne, running it as an egalitarian socialist democracy. This did not aid decision making, with arguments between technical staff threatening to destroy production.

After the end of his relationship with his partner Judda Lampe, Stein left the Schaubühne in 1985.

[edit] Major productions

• 1967

Saved (Bond)

Intrigue and Love (Schiller)

• 1968

In the Jungle of Cities (Brecht)

Vietnam-Discourse (Weiss)

• 1969

Torquato Tasso (Goethe)

Early Morning (Bond)

• 1970

The Changeling (Middleton and Rowley)

The Mother (Brecht-Gorky)

• 1971

Peer Gynt (Ibsen)

• 1972

Optimistic Tragedy (Vishnevsky)

• 1974

Antikenprojekt I

Summerfolk (Gorky)

• 1977

As You Like It

• 1980

The Oresteia (Aeschylus)

• 1984

Three Sisters (Chekhov)

• 1992

Julius Caesar

• 1994

Antony & Cleopatra

• 2000

Faust I & II

• 2003

The Seagull (Chekhov)

• 2005

Blackbird (Harrower)

• 2006

Troilus and Cressida (Shakespeare) and Mazeppa (Tchaikovsky/Burenin)

[edit] References

Guardian Unlimited Arts. Master of the rebels. Retrieved on 2006-04-06.