Franz Xaver Kroetz

Franz Xaver Kroetz (born 25 February 1946, Munich) is a German author, playwright,[1] actor[2] and film director. His plays have been translated and performed internationally.

Life

Kroetz attended an acting school in Munich and the Max-Reinhardt-Seminar in Vienna. He worked as a day-laborer and was active in the German political party DKP, Germany Communist Party, from 1971 to 1980.

He became famous when in 1971 the premiere of his plays Heimarbeit (House-work) and Hartnäckig (Persistent) were disrupted by neo-fascists. His plays in the 1970s portrayed people who had been rendered speechless by their own social misery. In the play Das Nest (The Nest), the protagonist is a truck driver. His boss orders him to dump toxic waste into a lake, thus soiling his "nest." He wrote a libretto based on his play Stallerhof (1971) for an opera of the same name which Gerd Kühr composed in 1987/88. It was premiered at the first Munich Biennale in 1988. The play was staged at the Burgtheater in 2010 by David Bösch.[3]

In her book Franz Xaver Kroetz The Construction of a Political Aesthetic, Michelle Mattson of the Columbia University summarizes:

Franz Xaver Kroetz -- banana-cutter, hospital orderly, fledgling actor and, more significantly, Germany's most popular contemporary dramatist of the seventies and early eighties. This study, which situates Kroetz's aesthetics in a political context, focuses on four plays that mark crisis points in his development of a political aesthetic.[4]

Kroetz wrote for the television series Tatort, Spiel mit Karten in 1980 and Wolf im Schafspelz in 2002. He is also known for his role as the gossip columnist 'Baby' Schimmerlos (roughly 'Baby Clueless') in the television series Kir Royal. His income from acting made writing without financial worries possible.[5]

Kroetz was awarded several prizes, including in 2005 the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany.

From 1992 to 2005, Kroetz was married to the actress Marie-Theres Relin. They have three children. As of 2011, Kroetz lived in the Chiemgau and on Tenerife.[5]

Translations

In 1976 Michael Roloff translated some of Kroetz' plays into English, namely Stallerhof (Farmyard), Michis Blut (Michi's Blood), Männersache (Men's Business), and Ein Mann ein Wörterbuch (A Man a Dictionary). Roger Downey translated Wunschkonzert (Request Concert), Durch die Blätter (Through the Leaves, the final version of Men's Business), and Das Nest (The Nest). Some of Kroetz' plays have been performed in the United Kingdom, for example, in 2002, Through the Leaves at the Southwark Playhouse,[6][7] in the United States, for example, in 1982, Michi's Blood in New York,[8] as well as in Australia.[9]

Some of Kroetz' plays have also been translated into French and performed in France.[5]

Awards and honors

Literature

References

  1. ↑ Gussow, Mel (30 December 1982). "THE STAGE: MONODRAMA BY KROETZ". New York Times. Retrieved 4 March 2011.
  2. ↑ Ranft, Wolfgang (25 February 2011). "Schauspieler und Autor Franz Xaver Kroetz feiert auf Teneriffa seinen 65.". Bild (in German). Retrieved 4 March 2011.
  3. ↑ Georg Petermichl: Fantasievolle Pirouetten nachtkritik.de 10 December 2010 (German)
  4. ↑ 4.0 4.1 Franz Xaver Kroetz. The Construction of a Political Aesthetic Berg 2011
  5. ↑ 5.0 5.1 5.2 Michael Schleicher: Franz Xaver Kroetz: „Altern ist ein Massaker" Interview, Münchner Merkur 22 February 2011 (German)
  6. ↑ Through the Leaves By Franz Xaver Kroetz translated by Anthony Vivis britishtheatreguide.info 2002
  7. ↑ Through the Leaves stageplays.com
  8. ↑ Frank Rich: Theater: Krotz' 'Michi's Blood' The New York Times 10 September 1982
  9. ↑ Interview: Franz Xaver Kroetz Theatrenotes 2009

Selected plays

Selected films

Awards

References

    External links