Alexander Lang | |
|---|---|
.jpg) Alexander Lang,c. 1970 | |
| Born | (1941-09-24)24 September 1941 |
| Died | 31 May 2024(2024-05-31) (aged 82) Berlin, Germany |
| Education | National Theatre School |
| Occupations |
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| Organizations | |
| Spouse | Annette Reber |
| Children | 3 |
Alexander Lang (24 September 1941 – 31 May 2024) was a German actor and stage director. He began his career, first as an actor, inEast Berlin, at theMaxim Gorki Theater, theBerliner Ensemble from 1967, and theDeutsches Theater from 1969 where he played leading roles and then moved to stage direction.
Lang was director at theThalia Theater in Hamburg from 1988. He worked as a guest at theatres and festivals in Germany, Austria and the Netherlands; he was invited three times to direct at theComédie-Française in Paris.
Lang was regarded as an influential director, especially known for productions of works from the German classical period byGoethe,Schiller,Lessing andKleist among others, with "a new, authentic approach".[1] His most famous film role was the philosopher Ralph in Konrad Wolf's 1980Solo Sunny.
Lang was born inErfurt,Germany, on 24 September 1941;[2][3][4] His father was an architect. He attended theHumboldt-Schule [de] there.[4] In 1961 he embarked on an apprenticeship as a sign and poster designer in 1961.[3] From 1962 Lang worked as a stage technician at theTheater Erfurt.[5] He then studied from 1963 to 1966 theState Theatre School in East Berlin,[2] together withJenny Gröllmann andRenate Krößner.[3][5][6]
During his final year of study, Lang was the narrator in the playDer Schuhu und die fliegende Prinzessin byPeter Hacks.[6] He went to work forWolfram Krempel [de] at theMaxim Gorki Theater in Berlin in 1966,[4][6] moved soon to theBerliner Ensemble in 1967, and to theDeutsches Theater in 1969,[3][5] where he built his reputation as an actor.[4]
His first major role there was Ferdinand in Schiller'sKabale und Liebe in 1972,[6] and his pure unconditional passion divided the critics; some were enthusiastic while others thought that afterBrecht, emotions on stage were embarassingly private.[7] He then played Paul Bauch inVolker Braun'sDie Kipper in 1973, Caliban in Shakespeare'sThe Tempest in 1974.[6] He played the title role in Kleist'sDer Prinz von Homburg in 1975, which was regarded as an extroardiny portrayal of a Prussion officer who misses happiness for duty, directed byAndreas Dresen.[5] Lang appeared in the title role inHeiner Müller'sPhiloktet in 1977.[6][4] He appeared in the title role in the monumental production of Goethe'sFaust II, staged in 1983 byFriedo Solter [de], alongsideDieter Mann as Mephisto.[8][9]
Lang's film and television appearances were relatively infrequent, including a prominent role, the philosopher Ralph in Konrad Wolf's 1980 filmSolo Sunny, alongside Krößner,[5] and the title role inPeter Vogel [de]'s television adaptation ofStephan Hermlin's short storyDer Leutnant Yorck von Wartenburg in 1981.[4]
Lang began directing drama productions at Deutsches Theater in the late 1970s; when the directors ofPhiloktet opposed his ideas for the title role and resigned in 1977, Lang and his colleaguesChristian Grashof [de] andRoman Kaminski [de] took over and presented the play as a teamwork.[7]
Actors in Lang's ensemble included alsoMargit Bendokat [de],Michael Gwisdek,Dieter Montag [de] andKatja Paryla.[5] He directedHorribilicribrifax byAndreas Gryphius in 1978 andErnst Toller'sDer entfesselte Wotan in 1979.[4][6] He staged Shakespeare'sEin Sommernachtstraum in 1980, with Bendokat, Paryla, Kaminski and Mann. In Büchner'sDantons Tod in 1981, he let Grashof play both Danton and Robespierre, showing for the first time on a GDR stage thatthe revolution ate its children.[7] Lang directedHeinrich Mann'sTraurige Geschichte von Friedrich dem Großen in 1982, Brecht'sDie Rundköpfe und die Spitzköpfe in 1983 andChristoph Hein'sWahre Geschichte des Ah Q, both in 1983.[6] After Dieter Mann became director of the theatre in 1984,[8] Lang directed Goethe'sIphigenie auf Tauris, with Paryla in the title role, andGrabbe'sHerzog Theodor von Gothland [de], with Grashof in the title role, that year,Johannes R. Becher'sWinterschlacht with Mann in 1985, and aTrilogy of Passion consisting ofMedea by Euripides, Goethe'sStella and Strindberg'sTotentanz in 1986.[6][10]
Lang said about his approach:
I am neither able nor willing to make a text the way it has supposedly been played for centuries, because that would be a kind of neutral historicism ... without obligation and doesn't hurt anyone. That would be an anti-realistic theater, because realism consists of telling fables and plays from today, from my world of experience, my knowledge, from the world situation. Otherwise I would turn the theater into a restorative-static institution, but theater is always a dynamic process – contemporary history always influences the history of interpretation... The focal point is the decoding for today.[6]
The city of Berlin awarded itsGoethe Prize [de] to Lang in 1981. In 1985 he received theNational Prize of East Germany, and in 1986 he became a member of theAcademy of Arts.[2][5]
In 1985 Lang directed for the first time in West Germany, Schiller'sDon Karlos at theMünchner Kammerspiele.[6] In May 1986 he announced that he was taking a three-year break from Deutsches Theater and worked as a guest director at the Kammerspiele, where he staged a double programme of Racine'sPhèdre and Kleist'sPenthesilea in 1987.Münchner Kammerspiele. His next planned production was a presentation of Wagner'sDer Ring des Nibelungen at theBerlin State Opera, but this production was indefinitely postponed.[9] In 1988 Lang returned to Munich and staged Bernard-Marie Koltès'In der Einsamkeit der Baumwollfelder.[2][9]
In February 1988, Lang was recruited byJürgen Flimm to theThalia Theater in Hamburg, where he became the resident theatre director in succession toJürgen Gosch [de].[2][9] His first production there was Goethe'sClavigo in 1988.[9][11] His next Hamburg productions wereRückkehr in die Wüste by Koltès in 1988 andDer Hofmeister by Jakob Michael Reinhold Lenz in 1989. In addition, in 1989, he worked at theNederlands Toneel as a guest producer of Chekhov'sThree Sisters.[2]
Eight months before thefall of the Berlin Wall in November 1989, Lang had been able to cross the border toWest Berlin where he took a job as senior director at theSchillertheater.[2] He was simultaneously, withAlfred Kirchner, Volkmar Clauß and Vera Sturm, a co-director of theNational Drama Theatre [de] in East Berlin.[2] He staged at the Schillertheater in 1989Bernhard Minetti'sMärchen in Deutschland based on fairy-tales of theBrothers Grimm as well as Schiller'sDie Räuber. The following year, when Berlin wasunified again, he presented a new production of Goethe'sIphigenie auf Tauris and another of Molière'sDer eingebildete Kranke.[2] He returned to Deutsches Theater in 1992 to stageKlaus Pohl [de]'sKarate-Billi kehrt zurück.[2]
In 1993 the Schillertheater company closed down for financial reasons; shortly before. Lang directed at Deutsches TheaterOedipus Rex bySophocles.[2] and Goethe'sTorquato Tasso,[4] both in 1996, andVoltaire Rousseau by Jean-François Prévands in 2000..[2]
Lang worked as a guest director with theComédie-Française in Paris,[2] staging Kleist'sDer Prinz von Homburg in 1994, Lessing'sNathan der Weise in 1999, and Goethe'sFaust I in 1999; he was the only German director to be invited three times.[7] He also directed at the Kammerspiele,Herbert Achternbusch'sDer letzte Gast in 1996,[12] and at theBregenzer Festspiele.[2] At theResidenztheater he directed the world premiere ofTankred Dorst's comedy,Wegen Reichtum geschlossen [de] in 1998, at theSchauspiel Leipzig [de] Hebbel'sDie Nibelungen [de] in 2000, and atNationaltheater Weimar Shakespeare'sHamlet in 2001..[2] He directed several more productions at the Maxim Gorki Theater whenVolker Hesse was general manager, Gorki'sNachtasyl in 2003,Ewers'Das Wundermärchen von Berlin in 2005 and Kleist'sDer zerbrochene Krug in 2006.[2]
Lang received theKonrad Wolf Prize from the Academy of Arts in 2020;[10][1] The jury acknowledged his work, beginning as a spectacular young protagonist and then directing classical plays in "a new, authentic approach" with his "close-knit ensemble", inspiring with "comedic wit and enlightening fantasy". They noted his "defining influence from East to West".[1]
Lang lived with the actress Katja Paryla; they had a son.[13] Lang was later married to Annette Reber,dramaturge of the Maxim Gorki Theater; she died in 2008 aged 43.[14] He had a severe illness in the 2000s;[5] he had no legs, lived in a wheelchair[15] and withdrew from the public.[5] He lived alone in Berlin-Pankow, with assistance.[15]
Lang died at home on 31 May 2024, aged 82.[5][15][16]
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