Michael Thalheimer (born 28 May 1965) is a German theatre director.

Life

Born in Münster, Hesse, Thalheimer studied from 1985 to 1989 at the Bern School of Acting, now integrated into the

University of the Arts Bern __NOTOC__ The Bern Academy of Arts () is an art school with locations in Bern and Biel/Bienne. It was created in 2003 from the merger of the University of Music and Theatre and the School of Design, Art and Conservation. The educational institution ...

. As an actor, he was engaged at many German-speaking theatres, including in Bern, Mainz, Bremerhaven and Chemnitz. In 1997, he presented his first production at the

Theater Chemnitz Theater Chemnitz is a German municipal theater organization based in Chemnitz. Performances of opera, ballet, plays, symphonic concerts, and puppet theater take place in its three main venues: * ''Opernhaus Chemnitz'' (for opera, ballet and musica ...

Fernando Arrabal Fernando Arrabal Terán (; ; born August 11, 1932) is a Spanish playwright, screenwriter, film director, novelist, and poet. He was born in Melilla and settled in France in 1955. Regarding his nationality, Arrabal describes himself as "desterra ...

's ''The Architect and the Emperor of Assyria''. Since his work at the theatre in Chemnitz, he has worked with the set designer Olaf Altmann as a permanent collaborator. Many productions followed at renowned theatres such as the Theater Freiburg, the

Theater Basel Theater Basel is the municipal theatre of the city of Basel, Switzerland, which is home to the city's opera and ballet companies. The theatre also presents plays and musicals in addition to operas and operettas. Because the theatre does not h ...

, the , the

Staatsschauspiel Dresden The Staatsschauspiel Dresden (State Playhouse Dresden) is a theatre in Dresden. It is maintained by the Free State of Saxony, hence its name. It consists of a main auditorium, the ' (play house), and a studio theatre, the '. It was created in 19 ...

, the Thalia Theater in Hamburg, the

Deutsches Theater Berlin The Deutsches Theater is a theater in Berlin, Germany. It was built in 1850 as Friedrich-Wilhelm-Städtisches Theater, after Frederick William IV of Prussia. Located on Schumann Street (Schumannstraße), the Deutsches Theater consists of two adj ...

and the

Schaubühne The (Theatre on Lehniner Square) is a famous theatre in the Wilmersdorf district of Berlin, located on the Kurfürstendamm boulevard. It is a conversion of the ''Universum'' cinema, built according to plans designed by Erich Mendelsohn in 192 ...

of Berlin. In 2005, Thalheimer made his debut as an opera director with Leoš Janáček's ''

Káťa Kabanová ''Káťa Kabanová'' (also known in various spellings including ''Katia'', ''Katja'', ''Katya'', and ''Kabanowa'') is an opera in three acts, with music by Leoš Janáček to a libretto by the composer based on ''The Storm (Ostrovsky), The Storm'' ...

'' at the

Staatsoper Unter den Linden The Staatsoper Unter den Linden ( State Opera under the Lime Trees), also known as the Berlin State Opera (), is a listed building on Unter den Linden boulevard in the historic center of Berlin, Germany. The opera house was built by order of Pr ...

, followed in December of the same year by an interpretation of Verdi's ''

Rigoletto ''Rigoletto'' is an opera in three acts by Giuseppe Verdi. The Italian libretto was written by Francesco Maria Piave based on the 1832 play '' Le roi s'amuse'' by Victor Hugo. Despite serious initial problems with the Austrian censors who had c ...

''. At Hamburg's Thalia Theater in particular, Thalheimer acquired an excellent reputation as a theatre director with productions of Schiller's ''

Kabale und Liebe ''Intrigue and Love'', sometimes ''Love and Intrigue'', ''Love and Politics'', or ''Luise Miller'' (, ; literally "''Cabal and Love''") is a five-act play written by the German dramatist Friedrich Schiller. His third play, it was first performed ...

'', Schnitzler's '' Liebelei'' and other classics. He is able to reduce even the most difficult material to its basic content and transport it emotionally and mentally. As a perfectionist, Thalheimer attaches great importance to the facial expressions and gestures of his actors, who sometimes fill minutes of wordless phases, which are then replaced by a flood of text recited in paragraphs and performed in staccato. After many successful years at Hamburg's Thalia Theater, Thalheimer shifted his work more and more to the Deutsches Theater in Berlin. After he had achieved the greatest success there in years with his two productions of Goethe's ''

Faust I ''Faust: A Tragedy'' (, , or

aust. The tragedy's first part ''The Australian'', with its Saturday edition ''The Weekend Australian'', is a broadsheet daily newspaper published by News Corp Australia since 14 July 1964. As the only Australian daily newspaper distributed nationally, its readership of bot ...

is the first part of the Tragedy, tragic Play (theatre), play ''Goethe's Faust, Faust'' by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, and is considered by many as the greatest work of German liter ...

'' and '' Faust II'', which were acclaimed by critics and audiences alike, he was head director from 2005 to 2008. His production of

Dea Loher Dea Loher (born 1964) is a German playwright and author. Biography Dea Loher was born Andrea Beate Loher in 1964 in Traunstein, Bavaria, Germany. She initially used the first name Dea as a pen name, but eventually changed her name officially to ...

's play ''Innocence'' became the subject of a protest action in spring 2012.

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 ...

* ''

Liliom ''Liliom'' is a 1909 play by the Hungarian playwright Ferenc Molnár. It was well known in its own right during the early to mid-20th century, but is best known today as the basis for the Rodgers and Hammerstein 1945 musical ''Carousel''. P ...

'' (Ferenc Molnár) at the Thalia Theater Hamburg, 2000 * ''

Festen ''The Celebration'' () is a 1998 Danish black comedy-drama film directed by Thomas Vinterberg and produced by Nimbus Film. It tells the story of a family gathering to celebrate their patriarch's 60th birthday, during which a family secret is ...

'' (after the film by

Thomas Vinterberg Thomas Vinterberg (; born 19 May 1969) is a Danish film director who, along with Lars von Trier, co-founded the Dogme 95 movement in filmmaking, which established rules for simplifying movie production. He is best known for the films '' The Cele ...

) at the

, 2000 * ''Liebelei'' (

Arthur Schnitzler Arthur Schnitzler (15 May 1862 – 21 October 1931) was an Austrian author and dramatist. He is considered one of the most significant representatives of Viennese Modernism. Schnitzler’s works, which include psychological dramas and narratives ...

) at the Thalia Theater Hamburg, 2001 * ''Lulu'' (

Frank Wedekind Benjamin Franklin Wedekind (July 24, 1864 – March 9, 1918) was a German playwright. His work, which often criticizes bourgeois attitudes (particularly towards sex), is considered to anticipate expressionism and was influential in the developme ...

) at the Thalia Theater Hamburg, 2005 * ''

Oresteia The ''Oresteia'' () is a trilogy of Greek tragedies written by Aeschylus in the 5th century BC, concerning the murder of Agamemnon by Clytemnestra, the murder of Clytemnestra by Orestes, the trial of Orestes, the end of the curse on the House ...

'' (Aeschylus) at the Deutschen Theater Berlin, 2007 * ''

Die Ratten ' (''The Rats'') is a 1955 West German drama film directed by Robert Siodmak. It is an adaptation of the 1911 play '' The Rats'' by Gerhart Hauptmann, but sets the story in the early 1950s, shortly after the Second World War. The film won the Go ...

'' (Gerhart Hauptmann) at the Deutschen Theater Berlin, 2007 * ''

Medea In Greek mythology, Medea (; ; ) is the daughter of Aeëtes, King Aeëtes of Colchis. Medea is known in most stories as a sorceress, an accomplished "wiktionary:φαρμακεία, pharmakeía" (medicinal magic), and is often depicted as a high- ...

'' (Euripides) at the Schauspiel Frankfurt, 2013

Theatre (as director)

Schauspiel Frankfurt The Schauspiel Frankfurt is the municipal theatre company for plays in Frankfurt, Hesse, Germany. It is part of Städtische Bühnen Frankfurt. History In the late 1770s the theatre principal Abel Seyler was based in Frankfurt, and established ...

: * 2012: ''

'' by Euripides * 2013: '' Kleiner Mann, was nun?'' by Hans Fallada * 2014: ''

Nora Nora, NORA, or Norah may refer to: * Nora (name), a feminine given name People with the surname * Arlind Nora (born 1980), Albanian footballer * Pierre Nora (1931–2025), French historian * Simon Nora (1921–2006), French politician Place ...

'' by Henrik Ibsen * 2015: ''

Penthesilea Penthesilea () was an Amazonian queen in Greek mythology, the daughter of Ares and Otrera and the sister of Hippolyta, Antiope, and Melanippe. She assisted Troy in the Trojan War, during which she was killed by Achilles or Neoptolemus. The ...

'' by Heinrich von Kleist

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 ...

/ Akademietheater: * 2010: '' Die heilige Johanna der Schlachthöfe'' by Bertolt Brecht * 2012: ''Elektra'' by

Hugo von Hofmannsthal Hugo Laurenz August Hofmann von Hofmannsthal (; 1 February 1874 – 15 July 1929) was an Austrian novelist, libretto, librettist, Poetry, poet, Playwdramatist, narrator, and essayist. Early life Hofmannsthal was born in Landstraße, Vienna, th ...

* 2014: ' by Friedrich Hebbel * 2014: '' Die Schutzbefohlenen'' by Elfriede Jelinek * 2017: ''

The Persians ''The Persians'' (, ''Persai'', Latinised as ''Persae'') is an ancient Greek tragedy written during the Classical period of Ancient Greece by the Greek tragedian Aeschylus. It is the second and only surviving part of a now otherwise lost trilog ...

'' by Aeschylus

Awards

* 2001: im Rahmen des

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 ...

for ''Liliom'', Thalia Theater Hamburg (with Olaf Altmann) * for ''

Emilia Galotti ''Emilia Galotti'' () is a play in five acts by Gotthold Ephraim Lessing (1729–1781), which premiered on 8 March 1772 in Braunschweig, Brunswick (''Braunschweig'' in German). The work is an example of German ''bürgerliches Trauerspiel'' (bourg ...

'',

Nestroy Theatre Prize The Nestroy Theatre Prize is an Austrian theatre award named after the poet Johann Nestroy. In 2000, the city of Vienna decided to combine two less noticed theatre awards: the Kainz Medal and the Nestroy Ring for Viennese Satire. The prize honours ...

for ''Emilia Galotti'', Deutsches Theater Berlin * Friedrich-Luft-Preis for '' Faust. Der Tragödie Erster Teil'', Deutsches Theater Berlin * Nestroy Theatre Prize for ''Elektra'', Burgtheater Wien

References

External links

*

Website of the

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 ...

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Thalheimer, Michael German theatre directors 1965 births Living people People from Münster

Life

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 ...

Theatre (as director)

Awards

References

Further reading

External links