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Among the current crop of innovative directors working in the contemporary German theatre, Dimiter Gotscheff stands out for several reasons. The Bulgarian-born director is one of several foreigners who have made their mark on the German theatre. Gotscheff, who is 64, has worked steadily since the 1970s, but has risen to star status over the past decade with award-winning productions in Cologne, Dusseldorf, Bochum, and, most recently, in Berlin. His artistic success at such an advanced age resembles to some extent the career of the late George Tabori, another foreigner who has deeply influenced the German theatre; Tabori became a star director in the German theatre when he was in his late fifties and was still directing from his bedside at age 93. Gotscheff's work is distinct from that of other current German directors. He eschews the use of video that characterizes the work of directors such as Frank Castorf, Rene Pollesch, or Falk Richter, the musicality and inventiveness of Christoph Marthaler's productions, the brevity and the reliance on scenographic solutions in Michael Thalheimer's work, or the realist social critique that marks Thomas Ostermeier's work at the Berlin Schaubühne. Instead, Gotscheff has championed Heiner Müller, redirecting and developing Müller's image space, interlacing of classic and contemporary texts, combination of genres, and exploration of the body.
Born in the small Bulgarian town of Parvomei in 1943, Gotscheff moved with his family to East Berlin in 1962. Following his father's footsteps, he enrolled in a veterinary medicine program, but then switched to theatre studies at the Humboldt University. One of his inspirations for becoming a professional director was the Swiss director Benno Besson, whom Bertolt Brecht had invited to join the Berliner Ensemble in 1949. Gotscheff credits Besson with bringing a lighter touch to the Berliner Ensemble thanks to his focus on the precision of gesture and to his wonderful wit (Gotscheff). Besson's production of Aristophanes' Peace at the Deutsches Theater in 1963 proved so powerful that after the performance Gotscheff begged Besson to let him work on his productions (Simon). Besson, who was principal director at the Deutsches Theater between 1962 and 1968 and later artistic director at the Volksbühne, also introduced Gotscheff to Heiner Müller's work through his own productions.
Gotscheff's career began in the...