Michael Thalheimer (born 28 May 1965) is a German theatre director.
Life
Born in
Münster
Münster (; nds, Mönster) is an independent city (''Kreisfreie Stadt'') in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. It is in the northern part of the state and is considered to be the cultural centre of the Westphalia region. It is also a state di ...
, Thalheimer studied from 1985 to 1989 at the Bern School of Acting,
now integrated into the
University of the Arts Bern
__NOTOC__
The University of the Arts Bern (german: Hochschule der Künste Bern) is an art school with locations in Bern and Biel/Bienne. It was created in 2003 from the merger of the University of Music and Theatre and the School of Design, Art an ...
. As an actor, he was engaged at many German-speaking theatres, including in Bern, Mainz, Bremerhaven and Chemnitz.
In 1997, he presented his first production at the
Theater Chemnitz
Theater Chemnitz is the municipal theatre organization in Chemnitz, Germany. Performances of opera, ballet, plays, symphonic concerts, and puppet theatre take place in its three main venues: the Opernhaus Chemnitz (for opera, ballet and musical th ...
:
Fernando Arrabal
Fernando Arrabal Terán (born August 11, 1932) is a Spanish playwright, screenwriter, film director, novelist, and poet. He was born in Melilla and settled in France in 1955. Regarding his nationality, Arrabal describes himself as "desterrado" ...
's ''The Architect and the Emperor of Assyria''. Since his work at the theatre in Chemnitz, he has worked with the set designer
Olaf Altmann
Olaf Altmann (born 1966) is a German scenic designer.
Born in Karl-Marx-Stadt (now Chemnitz), Altmann began his theatre career as a stage technician at the municipal theatre. There, he also designed his first stage design for a production of Hasko ...
as a permanent collaborator. Many productions followed at renowned theatres such as the Theater Freiburg, the
Theater Basel
Theater Basel is the municipal theatre of the city of Basel, Switzerland, which is home to the city's opera and ballet companies. The theatre also presents plays and musicals in addition to operas and operettas.
Because the theatre does not ha ...
, the , the
Staatsschauspiel Dresden, the
Thalia Theater in Hamburg, the
Deutsches Theater Berlin
The Deutsches Theater is a theater in Berlin, Germany. It was built in 1850 as Friedrich-Wilhelm-Städtisches Theater, after Frederick William IV of Prussia. Located on Schumann Street (Schumannstraße), the Deutsches Theater consists of two ad ...
and the
Schaubühne
The Schaubühne am Lehniner Platz (Theatre on Lehniner Square) is a famous theatre in the Wilmersdorf district of Berlin, located on the Kurfürstendamm boulevard. It is a conversion of the ''Universum'' cinema, built according to plans designe ...
of Berlin.
In 2005, Thalheimer made his debut as an opera director with Leoš Janáček's ''
Káťa Kabanová
''Káťa Kabanová'' (also known in various spellings including ''Katia'', ''Katja'', ''Katya'', and ''Kabanowa'') is an opera in three acts, with music by Leoš Janáček to a libretto by the composer based on '' The Storm'', a play by Alexander ...
'' at the
Staatsoper Unter den Linden
The (), also known as the Berlin State Opera (german: Staatsoper Berlin), is a listed building on Unter den Linden boulevard in the historic center of Berlin, Germany. The opera house was built by order of Prussian king Frederick the Great from ...
, followed in December of the same year by an interpretation of Verdi's ''
Rigoletto
''Rigoletto'' is an opera in three acts by Giuseppe Verdi. The Italian libretto was written by Francesco Maria Piave based on the 1832 play ''Le roi s'amuse'' by Victor Hugo. Despite serious initial problems with the Austrian censors who had cont ...
''.
At Hamburg's Thalia Theater in particular, Thalheimer acquired an excellent reputation as a theatre director with productions of Schiller's ''
Kabale und Liebe
''Intrigue and Love'', sometimes ''Love and Intrigue'', ''Love and Politics'' or ''Luise Miller'' (german: Kabale und Liebe, ; literally "''Cabal and Love''") is a five-act play written by the German dramatist Friedrich Schiller. His third play, ...
'', Schnitzler's ''
Liebelei
' is a 1933 German period drama film directed by Max Ophüls and starring Magda Schneider, Wolfgang Liebeneiner, and Luise Ullrich.
Production
The film, based on a play of the same name ('' Liebelei'') by Arthur Schnitzler, describes an ill-f ...
'' and other classics. He is able to reduce even the most difficult material to its basic content and transport it emotionally and mentally. As a perfectionist, Thalheimer attaches great importance to the facial expressions and gestures of his actors, who sometimes fill minutes of wordless phases, which are then replaced by a flood of text recited in paragraphs and performed in staccato.
After many successful years at Hamburg's Thalia Theater, Thalheimer shifted his work more and more to the Deutsches Theater in Berlin. After he had achieved the greatest success there in years with his two productions of Goethe's ''
Faust I
''Faust: A Tragedy'' (german: Faust. Eine Tragödie, links=no, , or aust. The tragedy's first part is the first part of the tragic play ''Faust'' by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, and is considered by many as the greatest work of German literature ...
'' and ''
Faust II
''Faust: The Second Part of the Tragedy'' (german: Faust. Der Tragödie zweiter Teil in fünf Akten.) is the second part of the tragic play ''Faust'' by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe. It was published in 1832, the year of Goethe's death.
Only part o ...
'', which were acclaimed by critics and audiences alike, he was head director from 2005 to 2008.
His production of
Dea Loher's play ''Innocence'' became the subject of a protest action in spring 2012.
Berliner Theatertreffen
The Berliner Theatertreffen (''Theatertreffen'' : neologism literally meaning "theatre encounter" or "theatre meeting"
) is a two-week long theatre festival occurring yearly in May in Berlin, Germany. It is a product of the Berliner Festspiele ...
* ''
Liliom
''Liliom'' is a 1909 play by the Hungarian playwright Ferenc Molnár. It was well known in its own right during the early to mid-20th century, but is best known today as the basis for the Rodgers and Hammerstein 1945 musical ''Carousel''.
P ...
'' (Ferenc Molnár) at the
Thalia Theater Hamburg, 2000
* ''
Festen
''The Celebration'' ( da, Festen) is a 1998 Danish dark comedy-drama film directed by Thomas Vinterberg and produced by Nimbus Film. The film tells the story of a family gathering to celebrate their father's 60th birthday, juggling subjects ...
'' (after the film by
Thomas Vinterberg
Thomas Vinterberg (; born 19 May 1969) is a Danish film director who, along with Lars von Trier, co-founded the Dogme 95 movement in filmmaking, which established rules for simplifying movie production. He is best known for the films ''The Celeb ...
) at the
Staatsschauspiel Dresden, 2000
* ''Liebelei'' (
Arthur Schnitzler
Arthur Schnitzler (15 May 1862 – 21 October 1931) was an Austrian author and dramatist.
Biography
Arthur Schnitzler was born at Praterstrasse 16, Leopoldstadt, Vienna, capital of the Austrian Empire (as of 1867, part of the dual monarchy ...
) at the Thalia Theater Hamburg, 2001
* ''Lulu'' (
Frank Wedekind
Benjamin Franklin Wedekind (July 24, 1864 – March 9, 1918) was a German playwright. His work, which often criticizes bourgeois attitudes (particularly towards sex), is considered to anticipate expressionism and was influential in the de ...
) at the Thalia Theater Hamburg, 2005
* ''
Oresteia
The ''Oresteia'' ( grc, Ὀρέστεια) is a trilogy of Greek tragedies written by Aeschylus in the 5th century BCE, concerning the murder of Agamemnon by Clytemnestra, the murder of Clytemnestra by Orestes, the trial of Orestes, the end o ...
'' (Aeschylus) at the Deutschen Theater Berlin, 2007
* ''
Die Ratten
' (''The Rats'') is a 1955 West German drama film directed by Robert Siodmak. It is an adaptation of the 1911 play '' The Rats'' by Gerhart Hauptmann, but transferred the story to the early 1950s, shortly after the Second World War.
It tells the ...
'' (Gerhart Hauptmann) at the Deutschen Theater Berlin, 2007
* ''
Medea
In Greek mythology, Medea (; grc, Μήδεια, ''Mēdeia'', perhaps implying "planner / schemer") is the daughter of King Aeëtes of Colchis, a niece of Circe and the granddaughter of the sun god Helios. Medea figures in the myth of Jason an ...
'' (Euripides) at the Schauspiel Frankfurt, 2013
Theatre (as director)
Schauspiel Frankfurt
The Schauspiel Frankfurt is the municipal theatre company for plays in Frankfurt, Hesse, Germany. It is part of Städtische Bühnen Frankfurt.
History
In the late 1770s the theatre principal Abel Seyler was based in Frankfurt, and established th ...
:
* 2012: ''
Medea
In Greek mythology, Medea (; grc, Μήδεια, ''Mēdeia'', perhaps implying "planner / schemer") is the daughter of King Aeëtes of Colchis, a niece of Circe and the granddaughter of the sun god Helios. Medea figures in the myth of Jason an ...
'' by Euripides
* 2013: ''
Kleiner Mann, was nun?'' by Hans Fallada
* 2014: ''
Nora
Nora, NORA, or Norah may refer to:
* Nora (name), a feminine given name
People with the surname
* Arlind Nora (born 1980), Albanian footballer
* Pierre Nora (born 1931), French historian
Places Australia
* Norah Head, New South Wales, headlan ...
'' by Henrik Ibsen
* 2015: ''
Penthesilea
Penthesilea ( el, Πενθεσίλεια, Penthesíleia) was an Amazonian queen in Greek mythology, the daughter of Ares and Otrera and the sister of Hippolyta, Antiope and Melanippe. She assisted Troy in the Trojan War, during which she w ...
'' by Heinrich von Kleist
Burgtheater /
Akademietheater
The Akademietheater in Vienna, Austria, is the smaller of two performance halls of the Burgtheater organization. It was constructed in the years 1911 to 1913 by architects Fellner & Helmer
Fellner & Helmer was an architecture studio founded in 1 ...
:
* 2010: ''
Die heilige Johanna der Schlachthöfe'' by Bertolt Brecht
* 2012: ''Elektra'' by
Hugo von Hofmannsthal
Hugo Laurenz August Hofmann von Hofmannsthal (; 1 February 1874 – 15 July 1929) was an Austrian novelist, librettist, poet, dramatist, narrator, and essayist.
Early life
Hofmannsthal was born in Landstraße, Vienna, the son of an upper-cl ...
* 2014: ' by Friedrich Hebbel
* 2014: ''
Die Schutzbefohlenen'' by Elfriede Jelinek
* 2017: ''
The Persians
''The Persians'' ( grc, Πέρσαι, ''Persai'', Latinised as ''Persae'') is an Greek tragedy, ancient Greek tragedy written during the Classical Greece, Classical period of Ancient Greece by the Greek tragedian Aeschylus. It is the second and on ...
'' by Aeschylus
Awards
* 2001:
im Rahmen des
Berliner Theatertreffen
The Berliner Theatertreffen (''Theatertreffen'' : neologism literally meaning "theatre encounter" or "theatre meeting"
) is a two-week long theatre festival occurring yearly in May in Berlin, Germany. It is a product of the Berliner Festspiele ...
for ''Liliom'',
Thalia Theater Hamburg (with
Olaf Altmann
Olaf Altmann (born 1966) is a German scenic designer.
Born in Karl-Marx-Stadt (now Chemnitz), Altmann began his theatre career as a stage technician at the municipal theatre. There, he also designed his first stage design for a production of Hasko ...
)
*
for ''
Emilia Galotti
''Emilia Galotti'' () is a play in five acts by Gotthold Ephraim Lessing (1729–1781), which premiered on 8 March 1772 in Brunswick ("Braunschweig" in German). The work is a classic example of German '' bürgerliches Trauerspiel'' (bourgeois ...
'',
Deutsches Theater Berlin
The Deutsches Theater is a theater in Berlin, Germany. It was built in 1850 as Friedrich-Wilhelm-Städtisches Theater, after Frederick William IV of Prussia. Located on Schumann Street (Schumannstraße), the Deutsches Theater consists of two ad ...
*
Nestroy Theatre Prize
The Nestroy Theatre Prize is an Austrian theatre award named after the poet Johann Nestroy
Johann Nepomuk Eduard Ambrosius Nestroy (; 7 December 1801 – 25 May 1862) was a singer, actor and playwright in the popular Austrian tradition of the ...
for ''Emilia Galotti'', Deutsches Theater Berlin
* Friedrich-Luft-Preis
for ''
Faust. Der Tragödie Erster Teil'', Deutsches Theater Berlin
* Nestroy Theatre Prize for ''Elektra'', Burgtheater Wien
References
Further reading
Hans-Dieter Schütt (ed.): ''Michael Thalheimer. Porträt eines Regisseurs''.
''Michael Thalheimer: Porträt eines Regisseurs''
on GoogleBooks Verlag Theater der Zeit, Berlin 2017, .
External links
*
Website of the Goethe-Institut
The Goethe-Institut (, GI, en, Goethe Institute) is a non-profit German cultural association operational worldwide with 159 institutes, promoting the study of the German language abroad and encouraging international cultural exchange and ...
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Thalheimer, Michael
German theatre directors
1965 births
Living people
People from Münster