Alexander Lang (24 September 1941 – 31 May 2024) was a German actor and stage director. He began his career, first as an actor, in East Berlin, at the Maxim Gorki Theater, the Berliner Ensemble from 1967, and the Deutsches Theater from 1969 where he played leading roles and then moved to stage direction.
Lang was director at the Thalia 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 the Comédie-Française in Paris.
Lang was regarded as an influential director, especially known for productions of works from the German classical period by Goethe, Schiller, Lessing and Kleist among others, with "a new, authentic approach".[1] His most famous film role was the philosopher Ralph in Konrad Wolf's 1980 Solo Sunny.
His first major role there was Ferdinand in Schiller's Kabale und Liebe in 1972,[6] and his pure unconditional passion divided the critics; some were enthusiastic while others thought that after Brecht, emotions on stage were embarassingly private.[7] He then played Paul Bauch in Volker Braun's Die Kipper in 1973, Caliban in Shakespeare's The Tempest in 1974.[6] He played the title role in Kleist's Der Prinz von Homburg in 1975, which was regarded as an extroardiny portrayal of a Prussion officer who misses happiness for duty, directed by Andreas Dresen.[5] Lang appeared in the title role in Heiner Müller's Philoktet in 1977.[6][4] He appeared in the title role in the monumental production of Goethe's Faust II, staged in 1983 by Friedo Solter [de], alongside Dieter 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 film Solo Sunny, alongside Krößner,[5] and the title role in Peter Vogel [de]'s television adaptation of Stephan Hermlin's short story Der Leutnant Yorck von Wartenburg in 1981.[4]
Directing
Lang began directing drama productions at Deutsches Theater in the late 1970s; when the directors of Philoktet opposed his ideas for the title role and resigned in 1977, Lang and his colleagues Christian Grashof [de] and Roman Kaminski [de] took over and presented the play as a teamwork.[7]
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]
In February 1988, Lang was recruited by Jürgen Flimm to the Thalia Theater in Hamburg, where he became the resident theatre director in succession to Jürgen Gosch [de].[2][9] His first production there was Goethe's Clavigo in 1988.[9][11] His next Hamburg productions were Rückkehr in die Wüste by Koltès in 1988 and Der Hofmeister by Jakob Michael Reinhold Lenz in 1989. In addition, in 1989, he worked at the Nederlands Toneel as a guest producer of Chekhov's Three Sisters.[2]
In 1993 the Schillertheater company closed down for financial reasons; shortly before. Lang directed at Deutsches Theater Oedipus Rex by Sophocles.[2] and Goethe's Torquato Tasso,[4] both in 1996, and Voltaire Rousseau by Jean-François Prévands in 2000..[2]
Lang received the Konrad 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]
Personal life and death
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]
Lang, Alexander: Abenteuer Theater. ed. Martin Linzer [de]. Henschelverlag Kunst und Gesellschaft, Berlin, 1977.
"Dantons Tod von Georg Büchner. Eine Dokumentation der Aufführung des Deutschen Theaters Berlin 1981". In: Theaterarbeit in der DDR, vol. 8, ed. Michael Funke. Verband der Theaterschaffenden der DDR, 1983, ISSN0138-2322.
Trilogie der Leidenschaft. Medea von Euripides, Stella von Goethe, Totentanz von Strindberg in Inszenierungen des Deutschen Theaters. Regie Alexander Lang. ed. Martin Linzer. Henschelverlag Kunst und Gesellschaft, Berlin, 1988.
Linzer, Martin: "Alexander Lang oder: Klassik für heute. Inszenierungen am Deutschen Theater 1976–1986". In: Durch den Eisernen Vorhang. Theater im geteilten Deutschland 1945 bis 1990. ed. Henning Rischbieter [de]. Propyläen Verlag, Berlin, 1999.
.jpg)
