Berliner Volksbühne director René Pollesch has died, who died suddenly and unexpectedly on Monday morning at the age of 61, the Rosa-Luxemburg-Platz Volksbühne announced in the evening. Volksbühne spokeswoman Lena Fuchs initially did not provide information on the exact circumstances of the death. “We are all shocked,” he told the German Press Agency.
Volksbühne director René Pollesch dies at the age of 61
Pollesch, who was also the author and director, took the stage in 2021. The Rosa-Luxemburg-Platz theater had previously had stormy years behind it. Before taking up the position of director, Pollesch himself had worked at the Volksbühne and had directed for various theaters before that.
Playwright and director was born in 1962 in Friedberg, Hesse. He studied applied theater at the University of Giessen and was then, among other things, the artistic director of the Berliner Volksbühne Prater. His teachers included George Tabori and Heiner Müller.
As an author, he wrote more than 200 works, most of which were short. He staged his plays at the Burgtheater in Vienna, the Deutsches Theater Berlin and the Kammerspiele in Munich, among others.
Pollesch has received several awards for his work. Among other things, he received the Mühlheim Playwright's Prize in 2001 and 2006. He was most recently awarded the Arthur Schnitzler Award in Vienna in 2019.