Helmut Henrichs

Helmut Henrichs (born April 13, 1907 in Elberfeld , † October 1, 1975 in Munich ) was a German theater critic , theater director and theater director .

Live and act

The son of a Protestant clergyman and missionary inspector attended the humanistic grammar school and studied literature, art and theater studies in Munich, Cologne and Berlin from 1925. From 1930 to 1932 he was assistant director at the Düsseldorfer Schauspielhaus . From 1933 to 1937 he worked as a theater critic for the Düsseldorfer newspaper Der Mittag .

In 1938 he became the chief editor of the Deutsche Theaterzeitung in Berlin. From 1939 to 1942 he worked under Heinz Hilpert as a dramaturge at the Deutsches Theater Berlin . From 1942 to 1950 he was senior director of the Stuttgart State Theater . Here, among other things, he staged the German premiere of Albert Camus ' Caligula in 1947 .

From 1950 to 1953 he worked, again with Hilpert, as senior stage director at the Deutsches Theater Göttingen . In 1953 he was appointed general manager of the Wuppertal municipal theaters . As a director, he was particularly concerned with the realists and classics.

As the successor to Kurt Horwitz , Henrichs was appointed director of the Bavarian State Theater in 1958 . He held office until 1972. He made Hans Lietzau senior director and worked with directors such as Rudolf Noelte and Niels-Peter Rudolph . He himself directed Die Ratten (guest performance at the City Center Theater, New York), Antigone by Jean Anouilh (1966), Iphigenie auf Tauris (1966), Torquato Tasso (1968), Nathan the Way (1967), Nora (1969) , Chekhov's On the Harmfulness of Tobacco (1969), Maria Stuart (1970) and finally Urfaust (1972).

Henrichs was considered a prudent theater director and director, one of whose merits was the formation of an excellent ensemble. At times, however, he was accused of a lack of experimentation. His son is the theater critic Benjamin Henrichs (* 1946).

Awards

• Bavarian Order of Merit (awarded on June 16, 1971)

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