Karin Beier (born 1965 in

Cologne Cologne ( ; ; ) is the largest city of the States of Germany, German state of North Rhine-Westphalia and the List of cities in Germany by population, fourth-most populous city of Germany with nearly 1.1 million inhabitants in the city pr ...

) is a German

theatre director A theatre director or stage director is a professional in the theatre field who oversees and orchestrates the mounting of a theatre production such as a play, opera, dance, drama, musical theatre performance, etc. by unifying various endeavors a ...

Biography

After studying English in Cologne, Karin Beier moved into theatre. She established an

English language English is a West Germanic language that developed in early medieval England and has since become a English as a lingua franca, global lingua franca. The namesake of the language is the Angles (tribe), Angles, one of the Germanic peoples th ...

theatre and staged

Shakespeare William Shakespeare ( 23 April 1564 – 23 April 1616) was an English playwright, poet and actor. He is widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the world's pre-eminent dramatist. He is often called England's natio ...

plays in their source language. Theatres began to grow in popularity, and she became the director of the

Düsseldorf Düsseldorf is the capital city of North Rhine-Westphalia, the most populous state of Germany. It is the second-largest city in the state after Cologne and the List of cities in Germany with more than 100,000 inhabitants, seventh-largest city ...

Theatre. Here she was able to display her first professional theatre production. In Düsseldorf she studied under

Iraq Iraq, officially the Republic of Iraq, is a country in West Asia. It is bordered by Saudi Arabia to Iraq–Saudi Arabia border, the south, Turkey to Iraq–Turkey border, the north, Iran to Iran–Iraq border, the east, the Persian Gulf and ...

i director David Mouchtar-Samorai. After her 1994 production of ''

Romeo and Juliet ''The Tragedy of Romeo and Juliet'', often shortened to ''Romeo and Juliet'', is a Shakespearean tragedy, tragedy written by William Shakespeare about the romance between two young Italians from feuding families. It was among Shakespeare's ...

'' she was invited to the

Berliner Theatertreffen The Berliner Theatertreffen ("Berlin theatre meeting") is a two-week long theatre festival occurring yearly in May in Berlin, Germany. It is organised by the Berliner Festspiele corporation, funded by the of Germany. During the festival, thos ...

and granted an award by the leading German theater magazine ''Theater heute''. The following year she directed productions at the

Deutsches Schauspielhaus The Deutsches Schauspielhaus, sometimes referred to as the Hamburg Schauspielhaus or Hamburg Theatre, is a theatre in the St. Georg, Hamburg, St. Georg quarter of the city of Hamburg, Germany History The Deutsches Schauspielhaus was co-foun ...

Hamburg Hamburg (, ; ), officially the Free and Hanseatic City of Hamburg,. is the List of cities in Germany by population, second-largest city in Germany after Berlin and List of cities in the European Union by population within city limits, 7th-lar ...

Schauspielhaus Bochum The Schauspielhaus Bochum is one of the notable drama theatres in Germany. It is located on Königsallee in Bochum, North Rhine-Westphalia North Rhine-Westphalia or North-Rhine/Westphalia, commonly shortened to NRW, is a States of Germany, ...

Munich Kammerspiele The Munich Kammerspiele (German: Münchner Kammerspiele) is a state-funded German-language theater company based at the ''Schauspielhaus'' on Maximilianstraße (Munich), Maximilianstrasse in the Bavarian capital. The company currently has three ...

, and the

Burgtheater The Burgtheater (; literally: "Castle Theater" but alternatively translated as "(Imperial) Court Theater", originally known as '' K.K. Theater an der Burg'', then until 1918 as the ''K.K. Hofburgtheater'', is the national theater of Austria in ...

Vienna Vienna ( ; ; ) is the capital city, capital, List of largest cities in Austria, most populous city, and one of Federal states of Austria, nine federal states of Austria. It is Austria's primate city, with just over two million inhabitants. ...

. In 2004 and 2005 she directed at the Nibelungen-Festival in

Worms The World Register of Marine Species (WoRMS) is a taxonomic database that aims to provide an authoritative and comprehensive catalogue and list of names of marine organisms. Content The content of the registry is edited and maintained by scien ...

, performing

Christian Friedrich Hebbel Christian Friedrich Hebbel (18 March 1813 – 13 December 1863) was a German poet and dramatist. Biography Hebbel was born at Wesselburen in Dithmarschen, Holstein, the son of a bricklayer. He was educated at the Gelehrtenschule des Johanneums ...

's 1861 play ''

Nibelungen The term Nibelung ( German) or Niflungr (Old Norse) is a personal or clan name with several competing and contradictory uses in Germanic heroic legend. It has an unclear etymology, but is often connected to the root ''Nebel'', meaning mist. The ...

''. Since 2007 Beier was the director of the main playhouse in Cologne (

Schauspiel Köln Schauspiel Köln is a theatre and company in Cologne, North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. It forms together with the Cologne Opera and other houses the Bühnen der Stadt Köln (Stages of the city of Cologne). The listed building has 830 seats in the ...

). On January 11, 2013 Beier said goodbye before her move to the

, with her last production of an antique drama, ''

The Trojan Women ''The Trojan Women'' (, lit. "The Female Trojans") is a tragedy by the Ancient Greece, Greek playwright Euripides, produced in 415 BCE. Also translated as ''The Women of Troy,'' or as its transliterated Greek title ''Troades, The Trojan Women'' ...

'' by

Euripides Euripides () was a Greek tragedy, tragedian of classical Athens. Along with Aeschylus and Sophocles, he is one of the three ancient Greek tragedians for whom any plays have survived in full. Some ancient scholars attributed ninety-five plays to ...

. It was based on the work of

Jean-Paul Sartre Jean-Paul Charles Aymard Sartre (, ; ; 21 June 1905 – 15 April 1980) was a French philosopher, playwright, novelist, screenwriter, political activist, biographer, and literary criticism, literary critic, considered a leading figure in 20th ...

References

External links

Karin Beier: 50 directors working in Germany

Goethe-Institut The Goethe-Institut (; GI, ''Goethe Institute'') is a Nonprofit organization, nonprofit German culture, cultural organization operational worldwide with more than 150 cultural centres, promoting the study of the German language abroad and en ...

s Website.

Literature

Interview with Karin Beier in: Vivien Gröning, Kirsten Sass: WOMAN@WORK Wege nach dem Abi – Wie FRAU heute Karriere macht. 22 Interviews mit erfolgreichen Frauen. Renningen 2014, . German theatre directors German women theatre directors 1965 births Living people Officers Crosses of the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany {{Theat-bio-stub