Frank Castorf

© Marcus Lieberenz

Born in East Berlin on 17 June 1951. Studied Theatre Sciences at Humboldt University, Berlin. 1976—1979 literary manager in Senftenberg, first own productions there. 1979-1981 director at Brandenburg Theatre, from 1981-1985 own free ensemble at Anklam Theatre. This was followed by productions at various East German theatres and, in 1989, first productions in the west in Cologne and Basel.

After the Berlin Wall came dome he worked as a freelance director in Hamburg, Munich, Berlin and Basel. In 1990 he was in-house director at the Deutsches Theater, Berlin, before he became manager of the Berliner Volksbühne am Rosa-Luxemburg-Platz, which he runs to this day. Until 2000 he also regularly produced plays at the Deutsches Schauspielhaus in Hamburg, as well as in Vienna, Salzburg, Bochum, Zurich and Stockholm.
In addition to his executive position in Berlin, he took charge of the Ruhr Festival Recklinghausen in 2004, but was sacked again after one festival due to shrinking audience numbers, a decision that became something of a cause célèbre.

In the annual critics’ survey of the “Theater heute” journal Castorf has been voted director of the year five times since 1989 and was awarded the Kortner Prize in 1994.