Richard Weichert

Richard Gustav Wilhelm Weichert (born May 22, 1880 in Berlin ; † November 15, 1961 in Frankfurt am Main ) was a German artistic director and theater director .

Live and act

Weichert became an actor at the insistence of his father . His first station as such was in Meiningen and before 1910 he came to Düsseldorf . There he was encouraged by Gustav Lindemann and Louise Dumont to become a director. After two guest productions in Berlin, he was senior director in Mannheim between 1914 and 1919 . He then succeeded Karl Zeiss as senior director of the stages in Frankfurt am Main, which he remained until 1929. When he left Frankfurt, he had sponsored several young actors over the years, and the ensemble was considered the best German acting ensemble at the time. The time was also shaped by joint artistic work with the set designer Ludwig Sievert (1887–1966).

After three years of guest performance, including in Vienna and Leipzig , he was hired as a drama director at the Munich State Theater in 1932 . Despite great success, he was no longer able to continue his activities after 1933 because of the National Socialists, the Reich Theater Chamber had declared him no longer acceptable. In 1934 (November 11th) Friedrich Schiller's Wallenstein , directed by Richard Weichert, premiered at the Theater des Volkes in Berlin. Heinrich George played the title role . In 1935 he was hired by Artistic Director Eugen Klöpfer as chief director at the Volksbühne Berlin . Before the war he was a guest director at the Deutsche Oper Berlin , at the Heidelberg Castle Festival and in Strasbourg . Shortly before the end of the war, all stages were closed and Weichert lost his job.

After the war, while he was staying at the Chiemsee, the Americans brought him to Frankfurt, where he, as the successor to Toni Impekoven, helped the theater to make a fresh start as director of the Schauspielhaus . He stayed at the theater until 1953. In his performances he let his actors play simultaneously or in stylized poses and arranged the actors' movements geometrically to one another. He is considered to be the central figure of German expressionist theater. His estate has been in the possession of the City and University Library of Frankfurt am Main since 1964.

literature

• German stage yearbook. 1963 Theater history year and address book. 71st year. Berlin, pp. 76-77.

Web links

• Richard Weichert's estate, Frankfurt University Library

Individual evidence

1. ^ Berlin Chronicle