Peter Stein

Peter Stein (born October 1, 1937) is a critically acclaimed German theatre and opera director who established himself at the Schaubühne am Lehniner Platz, a company he arguably brought to the forefront of German theatre.

Born in Berlin, Stein grew up in an era defined by the Nazis. His father Herbert Stein was factory director of Alfred Teves, a motorcycle manufacturing firm that was employed to make automotive parts for the Nazi regime. Herbert was in charge of 250,000 forced laborers. However, he was also involved in the Confessing Church, a resistance group.

Stein has said that these events had a profound effect on his life. After the war, his father was sentenced to 2 years of forced labor for collaborating with the Nazis. Peter's academic performance nose-dived, and he barely made it into Frankfurt University. He then moved to Munich and enrolled at university there, pursuing a PhD thesis on the works of E. T. A. Hoffmann.

Having been curious about the theatre since his time at Frankfurt, he became a stagehand in Munich and eventually earned other parts. Proving himself, he was hired as director for "Saved" by Edward Bond. This piece threw him into the limelight and was critically acclaimed. Politically driven, Stein went on to direct many politically charged pieces, including "Vietnam-Discourse" by Peter Weiss, Bond's "Early Morning", Sean O'Casey's "Cock-a-Doodle Dandy", "The Changeling" by Middleton and Rowley and Goethe's "Torquato Tasso".

The theatre that Stein originally worked at in West Berlin was called the Schaubühne am Halleschen Ufer.

In 1970, Stein was selected by politicians in Berlin to take over the Schaubühne, running it as an egalitarian socialist democracy. This did not aid decision making, with arguments between technical staff threatening to destroy production.

After the end of his relationship with his partner Jutta Lampe, Stein left the Schaubühne in 1985.

Major productions

*1967 :"Saved" (Bond):"Intrigue and Love" (Schiller)
*1968 :"In the Jungle of Cities" (Brecht):"Vietnam-Discourse" (Weiss)
*1969 :"Torquato Tasso" (Goethe) :"Early Morning" (Bond)
*1970 :"The Changeling" (Middleton and Rowley):"The Mother" (Brecht-Gorky)
*1971 ":"Peer Gynt (Ibsen)
*1972 :"Optimistic Tragedy" (Vishnevsky)
*1974 :"Antikenprojekt I":"Summerfolk" (Gorky)
*1977 :"As You Like It"
*1980 :"The Oresteia" (Aeschylus)
*1984 :"Three Sisters" (Chekhov)
*1992 :"Julius Caesar"
*1994 :"Antony & Cleopatra"
*2000 :"Faust I & II"
*2003 :"The Seagull" (Chekhov)
*2005:"Blackbird" (Harrower):"Medea" (Euripides)
*2006:"Troilus and Cressida" (Shakespeare) and "Mazeppa" (Tchaikovsky/Burenin)
*2007:"Elektra" (Sophocles)