The artistic director of the Berliner Volksbühne, René Pollesch, who has been in office since 2021, has died at the age of 61. The theater announced this in the evening. Pollesch was also the author and director of numerous plays.
The author and playwright René Pollesch is dead. The Berliner Volksbühne announced this on Monday. He died suddenly and unexpectedly in the morning at the age of 61, it said. The theater initially did not provide any further information.
Pollesch took over the stage in 2021. He previously worked as an author and director at the Volksbühne at Rosa-Luxemburg-Platz since 2001 under the direction of Frank Castorf. From 2001 to 2007 he managed the small Prater venue of the Volksbühne Berlin on Rosa-Luxemburg-Platz.
Pollesch has received multiple awards
René Pollesch was born in Friedberg, Hesse, in 1962. He studied applied theater studies at the University of Giessen and was then, among other things, artistic director of the Prater of the Berliner Volksbühne. His teachers included George Tabori and Heiner Müller.
As an author, he wrote over 200 pieces, most of which were short. He staged his own plays at the Burgtheater Vienna, the Deutsches Theater Berlin and the Munich Kammerspiele, among others.
Pollesch has received several awards for his work. Among other things, he received the Mühlheim Dramatist Prize in 2001 and 2006. He was most recently awarded the Arthur Schnitzler Prize in Vienna in 2019.
Most recently, Pollesch staged his text “nothing is ok” together with Fabian Hinrichs.
Broadcast: rbb24 Inforadio, April 26, 2024, 10:00 p.m