In Memory of Claus Peymann: Shakespeare’s Richard II

On 16 July 2025 the directing titan, long-serving artistic director and Theatertreffen veteran Claus Peymann died in Berlin-Köpenick at the age of 88. To mark his death, with the kind permission of 3sat, we present the recording of his spectacular production of “Richard II” with Michael Maertens in the title role. This work was Peymann’s 19th to be invited to the Theatertreffen and was shown during the 2001 festival at the Berliner Ensemble.

Peymann was both one of the most influential and one of the most colourful characters in German theatre history after 1945. He was appointed Drama Director in Stuttgart in 1974, became Artistic Director of Schauspielhaus Bochum in 1979 and from 1986 onwards he spent 13 years running the Vienna Burgtheater. Peymann eventually arrived at his “dream theatre”, the Berliner Ensemble, in 1999 and served as its Artistic Director until 2017. In his own lifetime the Bremen-born artist achieved legendary status, famous for world premieres surrounded by scandal such as Peter Handke’s “Publikumsbeschimpfung” (Offending the Audience, 1966) and Thomas Bernhard’s “Heldenplatz” (1988). Seven of his world premieres of Bernhard plays were invited to the Theatertreffen.

However, Peymann’s role as a loyal supporter and critical friend of the Theatertreffen extended far beyond his own theatrical work, whether as a member of the audience, taking his favourite seat at the end of a row, or as a passionate commentator on other productions. In 2012 he appealed for the festival to be abolished completely, only to write a warm-hearted letter to its then director Yvonne Büdenhölzer ten years later saying: “You were right to dispense with the chic cultural crowd from Wilmersdorf – and instead you have been able to win over Berlin’s young people. Like me, for example.”

About “Richard II”:

Richard II, King of England, has run his kingdom into the ground. To maintain his power, he banishes his cousin Bolingbroke from England and cheats him of his inheritance. But when Bolingbroke returns to claim what is rightly his, their dispute unleashes a civil war that changes everything.

Cast

Maria Happel – Duchess of Gloucester
Martin Seifert – Duke of Gaunt
Veit Schubert – Henry Bolingbroke
Michael Maertens – King Richard II
Katja Danowski – Queen Isabel
Michael Rothmann – Thomas Mowbray
Markus Meyer – Aumerle
Matthias Herrmann – Bushy
Philippe Graber – Greene
Boris Jacoby – Bagot
Manfred Karge – Duke of York
Götz Schulte – Northumberland