Peter Palitzsch

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Peter Palitzsch (2004)

Peter Palitzsch (born September 11, 1918 in Deutmannsdorf near Löwenberg in Silesia , † December 18, 2004 in Havelberg ) was a German theater director .

life and work

Youth and Work in the GDR

Palitzsch grew up in Dresden , where he completed high school, trained as a commercial graphic artist (technical school) and then ran an advertising agency with his brother Hans Heinrich Palitzsch . After five years of military service and brief imprisonment, he returned to Dresden. Here he was one of the founders of the Red Cross in Dresden. He began his stage career as a dramaturge at the Volksbühne in Dresden.

Bertolt Brecht brought him in 1949 as a dramaturge and collaborator in his newly founded Berlin ensemble . Since the ensemble did not have its own house at that time, they played on various stages in Berlin. It was not until 1954 that they were able to move into the house of the theater on Schiffbauerdamm. Based on a design by Peter Palitzsch, the logo of the Berliner Ensemble (BE), which is still known today, was made and mounted on the top of the tower. In 1955 he presented the first play as a director "The great day of the learned Wu". In the following year he made his debut with his first production, the play by Synges The Hero of the Western World (title role: Heinz Schubert ). A series of joint productions with Manfred Wekwerth followed. After Brecht died on August 18, 1956, Peter Palitzsch began to work at other German theaters. In his productions he always followed the path of Konstantin S. Stanislawski (1863–1938), the Soviet theater reformer, towards Brecht without ever reaching this goal. It then followed Vishnevsky's Optimistic Tragedy in May 1957 . However , Peter Palitzsch was solely responsible for the world premiere of Brecht's The Temporary Ascent of Arturo Ui at the Stuttgart State Theater in November 1958 with Wolfgang Kieling in the title role. The performance of this piece by the Berliner Ensemble in 1959 with the main actor Ekkehard Schall , on the other hand, is again considered a joint production (although Wekwerth Palitzsch is not mentioned on his website in this context, nor is the Stuttgart premiere). The Berlin performance of Arturo Ui , for which Wekwerth received the National Prize of the GDR in 1959 , was shown with extraordinary success in Paris in 1960, where it was awarded the Prize of the Theater of Nations and the Grand Prize of Parisian Theater and Music Criticism. This was Peter Palitzsch's international breakthrough. The play stayed with the main actor Ekkehard Schall for 15 years in the repertoire of the Berliner Ensemble and saw 532 performances.

In 1960/61 Manfred Wekwerth and Peter Palitzsch filmed Mother Courage and her children together at DEFA with Helene Weigel , Angelika Hurwicz , Regine Lutz , Ernst Busch , Wolf Kaiser , Ekkehard Schall, Heinz Schubert. The film received the special jury award at the Locarno Film Festival in June 1961.

Remain in the west

After Peter Palitzsch had staged the life of Edward II as a representative of authentic Brecht interpretations in Stuttgart , man is man in Wuppertal and The Caucasian Chalk Circle and The Good Man of Sezuan in Ulm , he gave the West German premiere of Brechts there on September 1, 1961 The Trial of Joan of Arc at Rouen 1431 (based on a radio play by Anna Seghers ). The example of other theaters of foregoing the performance of Brecht plays after the Berlin Wall was erected on August 13, 1961, was not followed in Ulm, and Peter Palitzsch was sharply criticized for this by the newspapers Die Welt and Bild . There were even bomb threats. After the premiere, which, however, went undisturbed, Palitzsch had Ulmer artistic director Kurt Hübner explain that he would not return to the GDR .

In the same year he staged The Caucasian Chalk Circle in Oslo with the still unknown Liv Ullmann , then in 1962 Danton's death at the Stuttgart State Theater and in Cologne in 1964 Mother Courage (with Ursula von Reibnitz ) and in 1966 Mr. Puntila and his servant Matti (with Hanns Ernst Jäger and Traugott Buhre ). His production of Martin Walser's The Black Swan in Stuttgart was invited to the Berlin Theatertreffen in 1965 . In 1967 he directed a television adaptation of The Trial of Joan of Arc at Rouen 1431 for WDR . It was of enormous importance in this new path of his artistic work that he had expanded his spectrum to include such classical authors as Samuel Beckett, Sean O'Cesey, Harold Pinter, William Shakespeare and, in the case of contemporary drama, especially Peter Turrini and Martin Walser.

His productions of "Dantons Tod" in Stuttgart by Georg Büchner (1813–1837), Bert Brecht's "Mother Courage" in Cologne in 1964, and "Herr Puntila und seine Knecht Matti", which premiered in May 1966 , are considered to be special classics from these years . The production of the play "The Black Swan" by Martin Walser (born 1927) with the Stuttgart Ensemble from 1965 was invited to the Berlin Theatertreffen. In addition to working on the stage, in 1967 he directed the television adaptation of Brecht's play "The Trial of Jeanne dÀrc zu Rouen 1431" for West German Radio.

Stuttgart and Frankfurt time

From January 1, 1966, Peter Palitzsch became director of theater at the Stuttgart State Theater. His production there of Shakespeare's Royal Dramas for two evenings under the title Wars of the Roses I + II ( Heinrich VI. , Eduard IV.) Was invited to the Berlin Theatertreffen in 1967. He interpreted Shakespeare according to his way of working, looking at the old conflicts with today's eyes in order to work out what continues to have an effect. And the critics hailed this as the “contemporary appropriation of the“ royal dramas. ”The same recognition of an invitation to Berlin received his staging of Marija by Isaac Babel in 1968 , the world premiere of Toller by Tankred Dorst in 1969 and that of This Story of You by John Hopkins in 1970 The sets were each by Wilfried Minks . In 1972, another Stuttgart production by Palitzsch was invited to Berlin: Waiting for Godot with Gerhard Just and Peter Roggisch . His particular merit here was that he made this house in Stuttgart one of the first stages in Germany. The plays mentioned became international sensations, met with applause, but also received rejections and triggered numerous public discussions. "Theater must change the world" was one of his most important orientations. In late autumn 1967, Peter Palitzsch also received severe political headwinds from the ranks of the CDU when he played "Macbird" by Barbara Garson (born 1941) premiered. This travesty on the then US President Lyndon B. Johnson led to violent hostility to his person. In June 1972 he said goodbye to the Stuttgart audience with a heavily controversial "Hamlet".

Peter Palitzsch now switched to Schauspiel Frankfurt in order to realize a co-determination theater inspired by the ideas of the 1968 movement . Of his productions there, Emilia Galotti from 1972, Spring Awakening , which was invited to the Berlin Theatertreffen in 1974, and Brecht's Die Tage der Commune , which was played in the so-called German Autumn from September 27, 1977, are particularly emphasized , which is in view on the kidnapping of Hanns Martin Schleyer by the " Red Army Fraction " on September 5, 1977 and his murder six weeks later triggered protests. Ibsen's master builder Solness from 1978 and Schiller's Don Carlos from 1979 are also counted among Palitzsch's best productions . In the meantime, however, the tensions between those involved had increased so much that Palitzsch broke off the experiment and ended his years in Frankfurt and the post of director in 1980.

International work and awards

Grave of Peter Palitzsch Dorotheenstädtischer Friedhof

In the following decade he worked on various West German theaters, also in Vienna , where he brought out numerous works at the Burgtheater , Zurich , Rio de Janeiro , and in Oslo with Liv Ullmann in Mother Courage and Her Children . He also played a leading role in Hans Neuenfels ' film Die Familie or Schroffenstein . After the fall of the Berlin Wall , he returned to the Berliner Ensemble in 1992 to take over the directorship with Peter Zadek , Fritz Marquardt , Matthias Langhoff , Eva Mattes (10 months) and Heiner Müller until 1995 . For the 100th birthday of his teacher Bertolt Brecht, he staged the musical evening at the Berliner Ensemble in 1998: I want to live, breathe your sun with actor Volker Spengler , singer Maria Husmann and musician and composer Simon Stockhausen . His last production was the three short texts he wrote himself (with a fatal outcome) , which premiered in 2003 in Luxembourg and Kassel .

On September 6, 2004, Palitzsch was awarded the Federal Cross of Merit, 1st class . In 1991 he had already been awarded the Berlin Theater Prize.

Private

From 1974 Palitzsch was married to Tanja von Oertzen, who was more than thirty years his junior. From 1984 he lived in a relationship with the opera singer Maria Husmann. He died of lung failure in 2004.

theatre

Filmography

Palitzsch's productions at the Berlin Theatertreffen

Berlin Theatertreffen :

  • Martin Walser, The Black Swan (Württemberg State Theater Stuttgart, 1965)
  • William Shakespeare, Henry VI. (Württemberg State Theater Stuttgart, 1967)
  • William Shakespeare, Eduard IV. (Württemberg State Theater Stuttgart, 1967)
  • Isaak Babel, Marija (Württemberg State Theater Stuttgart, 1968)
  • Tankred Dorst, Toller (Württemberg State Theater Stuttgart, 1969)
  • John Hopkins, This Story of You (Württembergische Staatstheater Stuttgart, 1970)
  • Samuel Beckett, Waiting for Godot (Württemberg State Theater Stuttgart, 1972)
  • Frank Wedekind, Spring Awakening (Städtische Bühnen Frankfurt / Main, 1974)

literature

Web links

Commons : Peter Palitzsch  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ I never considered myself a genius. Director Peter Palitzsch in conversation with Stephan Suschke. @ stephansuschke.de, accessed June 7, 2016
  2. ↑ manfredwekwerth.de/biographisches.html ( Memento of the original from September 27, 2009 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / manfredwekwerth.de
  3. ↑ manfredwekwerth.de ( Memento of the original from September 27, 2009 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / manfredwekwerth.de
  4. ^ Trial in Ulm . In: Der Spiegel . No. 38 , 1961 ( online ).
  5. ↑ Peter Palitzsch biography, Munzinger archive 2005 in: www.munzinger.de/search/document/000000011475
  6. ↑ Inner strength . In: Der Spiegel . No. 30 , 1980 ( online ).
  7. ^ Eva Mattes remains director at the Berliner Ensemble. Berliner Zeitung, March 16, 1995; “It was also Zadek who brought Mattes to the board of directors of the Berliner Ensemble in 1994 - as a buffer between management and operations. However, she resigned from office after a year ... “ Eva Mattes. Stage berserk with grip on the ground. @ br.de; "... SPIEGEL: You were only ten months in office ..." Der Spiegel, June 19, 1995, accessed January 26, 2018
  8. ↑ theatergemeinde-bonn.de  ( page no longer available , search in web archives )  Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.@1@ 2Template: Toter Link / theatergemeinde-bonn.de  

7. Berliner Zeitung, March 16, 1995 ( online )

personal data
SURNAME Palitzsch, Peter
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German theater director
DATE OF BIRTH September 11, 1918
PLACE OF BIRTH Deutmannsdorf near Löwenberg in Silesia
DATE OF DEATH December 18, 2004
Place of death Havelberg