Christoph Schroth

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Christoph Schroth (born May 5, 1937 in Dresden ) is a German theater director and artistic director and was one of the most influential drama directors in the GDR .

Life

Schroth comes from a Dresden theater family, his mother is the actress Lotte Meyer , his brother the director Peter Schroth .

Christoph Schroth studied journalism in Leipzig from 1955 to 1959 , theater studies from 1962 to 1965 and philosophy from 1969 to 1974 by distance learning . In 1960 he became an assistant director at the Maxim Gorki Theater . His first production was in 1964 The visit of Martin Walser at the Volksbühne Berlin . From 1966 to 1971 he worked at the Landestheater in Halle (Saale) , where two productions of his were banned, including the GDR premiere of Martin Sperr's Landshut stories . After that he was back at the Volksbühne Berlin until 1974.

Especially during his time as drama director at the Mecklenburg State Theater in Schwerin from 1974 to 1989, his productions formed the occasion for an exchange between theater and the public, which extended far beyond the artistic into the political. Important performances were in particular Franziska Linkerhand (1978) and Faust I and Faust II (1979, both parts in one evening).

A special feature of the Schwerin theater work under Schroths line which were discoveries . Schroth brought the concept with him from his theater work in Halle and developed it further in Schwerin. The discoveries each had a thematic focus and bundled various productions and other scenic formats in one evening. The main aesthetic aspects were the festival character, which was linked to folk theater traditions, and the closeness to the audience. The entire theater, including the rehearsal stages and foyers, was involved in the discoveries . At the same time , the director Benno Besson realized a similar concept under the name Spektakel at the Volksbühne in Berlin . This form was very popular in the theater of the GDR not least because it made it possible to show plays and performances that in themselves might have been banned.

The folk song evening The Free German Youth Storms Berlin , which was shown as part of the GDR discoveries of 1988, became a sign of the imminent demise of the GDR . Actors sang socialist songs from the time the GDR was being built, with their youthful portraits above them. Schroth made the difference between what was once hoped for and the real state visible in a painful and at the same time cheerful way. This recital was one of Schroth's greatest successes in Schwerin.

From 1984 to 1986 Schroth was director of the Mecklenburg State Theater in addition to his work as acting director .

In 1989 Christoph Schroth went to the Berliner Ensemble , where he was senior director until 1990 and worked as in-house director until 1992. From 1992 to 2003 he was artistic director at the Cottbus State Theater . In Cottbus he continued the Schwerin concept of the discoveries under the title Zone border encouragement. In addition to his management activities, Schroth worked as a freelance director at home and abroad, including at the Burgtheater Vienna, in Vaasa (Finland), Kassel, Neustrelitz, Neubrandenburg and Senftenberg .

The actors with whom Christoph Schroth worked for years include Ulrike Krumbiegel , Barbara Bachmann, Bärbel Röhl, Nadja Engel, Wolf-Dieter Lingk, Thomas Harms , Veit Schubert , Sewan Latchinian, Götz Schulte , Axel Werner and Rudolf Koloc. A long-term working partner was also the set designer Lothar Scharsich.

From 1983 to 1993 Christoph Schroth was a full member of the Academy of the Arts, Berlin (East), Performing Arts Section. From 1990 to 1993 he worked as secretary of the Performing Arts section of the Academy of Arts, Berlin (East). Since 1993 he has been a member of the Berlin Academy of the Arts , performing arts section. The personal archive of Christoph Schroth is in the Berlin Academy of the Arts.

Productions (selection)

  • Contemporaries of Armin Stolper , Landestheater Halle, premiere on September 13, 1969, world premiere
  • Cape of Unrest by Alfred Matusche , Volksbühne Berlin, premiere on March 3, 1972
  • The new sufferings of the young W. von Ulrich Plenzdorf , Volksbühne Berlin, premiere on December 10, 1972
  • Moritz Tassow by Peter Hacks , Mecklenburgisches Staatstheater Schwerin, Premiere: May 25, 1975
  • Minutes of a session by Alexander Gelman, Mecklenburgisches Staatstheater Schwerin, premiere: March 27, 1976 (within the discoveries )
  • Don Carlos by Friedrich Schiller , Mecklenburgisches Staatstheater Schwerin, premiere: September 26, 1976
  • The Days of the Commune by Bertolt Brecht , Mecklenburgisches Staatstheater Schwerin, premiere: January 27, 1978 (within the Brecht discoveries )
  • Franziska Linkerhand by Brigitte Reimann , theater version by Bärbel Jaksch and Heiner Maaß, Mecklenburgisches Staatstheater Schwerin, premiere: April 21, 1978
  • Boris Godunow by Alexander Puschkin , Mecklenburgisches Staatstheater Schwerin, Premiere: September 29, 1978, GDR first performance
  • The Sailors of Cattaro by Friedrich Wolf , Mecklenburgisches Staatstheater Schwerin, premiere: April 16, 1979
  • Faust I and II by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe , Mecklenburgisches Staatstheater Schwerin, premiere: September 28, 1979
  • Blue horses on red grass by Michail Schatrow , Berliner Ensemble, Premiere: October 3, 1980 ( TV recording 1980)
  • The Seventh Cross by Anna Seghers , theater version by Bärbel Jaksch and Heiner Maaß, Mecklenburgisches Staatstheater Schwerin, premiere: April 11, 1981
  • Drumming in the Night by Bertolt Brecht, Mecklenburgisches Staatstheater Schwerin, Premiere: January 30, 1982, GDR first performance
  • Iphigenie in Aulis by Euripides in the version by Friedrich Schiller, Die Troerinnen by Euripides and Agamemnon by Aeschylus in the version by Gerhard Kelling. Mecklenburgisches Staatstheater Schwerin, premiere: December 5, 1982, within the antiquity discoveries
  • Brother Eichmann by Heinar Kipphardt , Mecklenburgisches Staatstheater Schwerin, premiere: September 11, 1983 (GDR premiere in a ring production)
  • Demetrius / Dmitri by Friedrich Schiller / Volker Braun , Mecklenburgisches Staatstheater Schwerin, premiere: April 27, 1984 (GDR premiere)
  • Mother Courage and her children by Bertolt Brecht, Burgtheater , Vienna 1986
  • The Free German Youth storms Berlin , FDJ song program as part of the GDR discoveries , premiere on January 29, 1988
  • Lenin's death by Volker Braun, Berliner Ensemble, premiere on September 28, 1988, world premiere
  • Wilhelm Tell by Friedrich Schiller, Mecklenburgisches Staatstheater Schwerin 1989
  • The Persians by Aeschylus , Theater Bonn 1991
  • The Robbers by Friedrich Schiller, Cottbus State Theater 1993
  • Hamlet by William Shakespeare , Staatstheater Cottbus 1997
  • The children of Edward Bond , Cottbus State Theater in 2003, German premiere
  • Mein Kampf by George Tabori , Staatstheater Cottbus 2006

Filmography

Awards

  • 1964 State Prize for National Artistic Creation
  • 1978 Medal of Merit of the GDR
  • 1980 Labor banner
  • 1980 Art Prize of the GDR
  • 1981 radio play award for best director of a children's radio play
  • 1984 National 3rd class award
  • 1988 FDJ Art Prize (Erich Weinert Medal)
  • 2003 Hans Otto Prize, Dresden
  • 2010 Federal Cross of Merit on ribbon

literature

  • Thomas Irmer: The Schwerin legend: Christoph Schroth (interview). In: Ders./Matthias Schmidt: The theater republic . Theater in the GDR. Berlin: Alexander, 2003, pp. 102–129. ISBN 3-89581-106-8
  • Martin Linzer u. a. (Ed.): There is no province where I am. The director Christoph Schroth. Berlin: Akademie der Künste / Förderverein Theaterdokumentation, 2003. ISBN 3-92933-316-3
  • Klaus Völker: Stories about history. “There is no province where I am” - Christoph Schroth is retiring, not retiring. In: Theater heute July 2003, p. 67.
  • Renate Rätz:  Schroth, Christoph . In: Who was who in the GDR? 5th edition. Volume 2. Ch. Links, Berlin 2010, ISBN 978-3-86153-561-4 .
  • Dagmar Fischborn ( Dagmar Borrmann ) Theatrical adaptations of epic texts as a special form of interrelationship between theater and literature. Franziska Linkerhand and The Seventh Cross at the Mecklenburg State Theater Schwerin. Dissertation A. German National Library . Signature Frankfurt: H 85b / 6201, signature Leipzig: Di 1985 B 4212
  • Renate Ullrich: Schwerin discoveries. A theater in conversation . Dietz Verlag Berlin 1986
  • Christa Hasche, Traute Schölling, Joachim Fiebach: Theater in the GDR. Chronicle and positions. Henschel Verlag Berlin 1994, ISBN 3-89487-200-4

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Christoph Schroth , Internationales Biographisches Archiv 16/2005 of April 23, 2005, in the Munzinger Archive ( beginning of the article freely accessible)
  2. ^ A b Thomas Irmer: The Schwerin legend: Christoph Schmidt (interview). In: Ders./Matthias Schmidt: The theater republic . Theater in the GDR. Berlin 2003, pp. 103-129.
  3. ^ Renate Ullrich: Schwerin discoveries. A theater in conversation . Dietz Verlag Berlin 1986
  4. ↑ Martin Linzer: Discoveries GDR Drama. In: Martin Linzer u. a. (Ed.): There is no province where I am. The director Christoph Schroth. Berlin: Akademie der Künste / Förderverein Theaterdokumentation, 2003. ISBN 3-92933-316-3
  5. ↑ Martin Linzer: Discoveries GDR Drama. In: Martin Linzer u. a. (Ed.): There is no province where I am. The director Christoph Schroth. Berlin: Akademie der Künste / Förderverein Theaterdokumentation, 2003. ISBN 3-92933-316-3
  6. ↑ Horst Zänger: 170 years of Mecklenburg State Theater Schwerin. Norderstedt 2005, p. 149.
  7. ↑ Martin Linzer u. a. (Ed.): There is no province where I am. The director Christoph Schroth. Berlin: Akademie der Künste / Förderverein Theaterdokumentation, 2003. ISBN 3-92933-316-3 , p. 135
  8. ↑ see theater website Neustrelitz / Neubrandenburg and theater website Senftenberg .
  9. ↑ ddr-lexikon.de: Chronicle of the GDR 1980 - May 9th (accessed November 25, 2014)
  10. ↑ press release. No. 185-10. Ministry of Education, Science and Culture of the State of Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania , October 5, 2010, accessed on April 4, 2016 .
personal data
SURNAME Schroth, Christoph
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German theater director and general manager
DATE OF BIRTH May 5, 1937
PLACE OF BIRTH Dresden