René Pollesch to head Berlin's inconic Volksbühne
June 12, 2019
The appointment of René Pollesch as director of one of Berlin's most revered theater institutions is to take effect for the 2021-22 season, Berlin Culture Senator Klaus Lederer confirmed on Wednesday, following much speculation.
The appointment will likely mark the end of a tempestuous time at Berlin's renowned Volksbühne theater after the Belgian curator and former head of London's Tate Modern Chris Dercon was picked in 2015 to replace longtime Volksbühne director Frank Castorf.
Intensive protests against the decision to install Dercon included a sit-in at the theater lasting six days, with supporters of Berlin's iconic "people's" theater believing that the new director would corporatize the institution — and gentrify the city. Personal abuse was also leveled at Dercon, who resigned less than a year into his tenure in April 2018.
After Castorf revolutionized the theater in his own radical image across 25 years, Dercon's offerings were also considered bland and failed to enthuse the public.
"Both parties have agreed that Chris Dercon's appointment has not worked out as hoped, and the Volksbühne promptly needs a fresh start," stated Berlin public radio station, RBB, last April.
New beginnings?
But the appointment of René Pollesch to the directorship is not quite a new start. A highly experienced dramaturge who served part of his apprenticeship at London's Royal Court Theatre in the 1990s, Pollesch worked extensively at the Volksbühne under Castorf as director of the theater's side venue, Prater, from 2001 to 2007.
Pollesch was born in Friedberg in the state of Hesse in 1962, and has worked in major theater houses in Stuttgart, Hamburg, Vienna and Frankfurt, in addition to Berlin, where he recently staged Cry Baby and Black Maria at the Deutsches Theater. Among his many awards, Pollesch received Germany's top theater award, the Mülheimer Dramatikerpreis, in 2002 for his work at Prater.
The Volksbühne remains one of the most important theaters in Berlin. But its cult status diminished under Dercon's controversial reign, with costly in-house productions, declining viewer numbers and lack of sponsorship funds putting the institution at risk.
Volksbühne's former managing director, Klaus Dörr, will remain the temporary director until 2021, when Pollesch will assume his new role.
sb/eg (with dpa)