Volker Hesse (born 30 December 1944) is a German Theatre producer. Between 2001 and 2006 he was the Theatrical Director at Berlin's Maxim Gorki Theater. More recently he has been working in

Switzerland ). Swiss law does not designate a ''capital'' as such, but the federal parliament and government are installed in Bern, while other federal institutions, such as the federal courts, are in other cities (Bellinzona, Lausanne, Luzern, Neuchâtel ...

Life

Volker Hesse was born in the

Hunsrück The Hunsrück () is a long, triangular, pronounced upland in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany. It is bounded by the valleys of the Moselle-Saar (north-to-west), the Nahe (south), and the Rhine (east). It is continued by the Taunus mountains, past ...

region to the west of Frankfurt. His father was the opera director Rudolf Hesse. His time as a student at Cologne and then Vienna covered Theatre studies,

German studies German studies is the field of humanities that researches, documents and disseminates German language and literature in both its historic and present forms. Academic departments of German studies often include classes on German culture, German hi ...

and

Philosophy Philosophy (from , ) is the systematized study of general and fundamental questions, such as those about existence, reason, knowledge, values, mind, and language. Such questions are often posed as problems to be studied or resolved. Some ...

. He received his doctorate in 1972. His doctoral dissertation concerned the theatrical work of Bernhard Diebold (''"Das theaterkritische Werk Bernhard Diebolds"''). He took acting lessons with

Will Quadflieg Friedrich Wilhelm "Will" Quadflieg (; 15 September 1914 – 27 November 2003) was a German actor from Oberhausen. He was the father of actor Christian Quadflieg. He is considered one of Germany's best post-war actors. One of his most widely rec ...

and then worked as an assistant to theatre directors such as

Leopold Lindtberg Leopold Lindtberg (born in Vienna on 1 June 1902; died in Sils im Engadin/Segl on 18 April 1984) was an Austrian Swiss film and theatre director. He fled Austria due to the Machtergreifung in Germany and ultimately settled in Switzerland. His ...

and Hans Hollmann. His own first productions followed at the Vienna "Café Theatre", at the "Rampe" in

Bern german: Berner(in)french: Bernois(e) it, bernese , neighboring_municipalities = Bremgarten bei Bern, Frauenkappelen, Ittigen, Kirchlindach, Köniz, Mühleberg, Muri bei Bern, Neuenegg, Ostermundigen, Wohlen bei Bern, Zollikofen , website ...

and at "Die Claque" at Baden. During the mid-1970s he was staging productions at venues such as the City Theatres in

and Trier, along with the

Munich Kammerspiele The Munich Kammerspiele (German: Münchner Kammerspiele) is a state-funded German-language theater company based at the ''Schauspielhaus'' on Maximilianstrasse in the Bavarian capital. The company currently has three venues: the main stage of ...

(theatre). In 1979 Hesse became a member of the directing team at the recently opened new

Düsseldorfer Schauspielhaus The is a theatre building and company in Düsseldorf. The present building with two major auditoria was designed by the architect and built between 1965 and 1969. It opened in 1970. History The theatre dates back to 1747 when during the ...

(theatre) where his productions included Graser's "Widow burning" (1980), Lessing's " Nathan the Wise" (1983) and "Henry, or the Pain of Fantasy" (1985) by Tankred Dorst. In 1985 he was invited to stage Arthur Schnitzler's Professor Bernhardi at the Berliner Theatertreffen drama festival. After 1985 there followed a period of freelance directing, taking in, among other venues, the Bavarian National Theatre in Munich and the Maxim Gorki Theater in Berlin. In 1993, together with Stephan Müller, he took over at the New Market Theatre in Zürich. They remained in charge till 1999. Hesse's original production of "Sekten" (1995) and (1997) were invited to be part of the Berliner Theatertreffen drama festival. Müller then moved on to Vienna while Hesse returned to freelance work for a couple of years. In 2001 he took over as "Intendant" (director) at the Maxim Gorki Theater in Berlin, holding the appointment till the end of the 2006 season. In 2008, and again in 2012, he was in charge of the William Tell Theatre Festival (''"Tellspiele"'') at Altdorf. He also produced

Thomas Hürlimann Thomas Hürlimann (born 21 December 1950) is a Swiss playwright and novelist. Biography Hürlimann was born in Zug, Switzerland. He is a son of the former government and federal councilor (Minister) Hans Hürlimann. He studied philosophy in Züric ...

's "Deadline" (''"Stichtag"'') at the

Lucerne Lucerne ( , ; High Alemannic German, High Alemannic: ''Lozärn'') or Luzern ()Other languages: gsw, Lozärn, label=Lucerne German; it, Lucerna ; rm, Lucerna . is a city in central Switzerland, in the Languages of Switzerland, German-speaking po ...

"Südpol Culture House" Theatre. During the twentiy-first century Volker Hesse's theatrical work has been undertaken almost entirely in German speaking central Switzerland, and in 2010 he was honoured with the Swiss

Hans-Reinhart-Ring The Hans-Reinhart-Ring (in French: ''Anneau Hans-Reinhart''; in Italian: ''Anello Hans Reinhart''; in Romansh: ''Anè da Hans Reinhart'') is a prestigious Switzerland, Swiss award in theatre. Since 2014 it is part of the Swiss Theater Awards as ...

theatrical award. Volker Hesse was hired as director for the Gotthard Base Tunnel inauguration ceremony of June 1, 2016. The controversial opening ceremony was described as "disturbing", "demonic" and akin to a depiction of a "sex-orgy".

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Hesse, Volker German theatre directors 1944 births People from Rhineland-Palatinate Living people