Frank Castorf

* 1951 in Berlin

Born in East Berlin in 1951, Frank Castorf graduates in theatre arts at Humboldt University in the mid-seventies and becomes dramaturg at the theatre in Senftenberg. In the following years, he works as a director at various theatres in the GDR, and, after the fall of the Berlin wall in 1989, he soon gets to be invited to work as freelance director for renowned West German theatres. Among his famous adaptations are works by Goethe, Shakespeare, Lessing, Ibsen, Bulgakov, and, time and again, Heiner Mueller.

At the beginning of the repertory season 1992/93, Frank Castorf is appointed artistic director of the Volksbühne am Rosa-Luxemburg Platz. He has been an enormously productive director there ever since. In addition, he staged many guest productions at theatres in Basel, Zurich, Stockholm, Vienna, Copenhagen, São Paulo, and Hamburg. He focuses on adaptations of Dostoyevsky’s novels, and on plays by US-American dramatists like Tennessee Williams, Eugene O’Neill, and Frank Norris. But also German-language authors play a prominent role: in recent years he directed Brecht’s “Die Maßnahme/Mauser” [The Decision/Mauser], “Jasager/Neinsager” [He says Yes/He says No], and “Lehrstück” [Lesson]. He also produced the plays “Soldaten” [The Soldiers] and “Der Hofmeister” [The Tutor] by Lenz, and “Ozean” [The Ocean] by Friedrich von Gagern.

A short while ago, he signed a new contract that will keep him in place as artistic director until 2013.

Engagements in Bayreuth