FREYER, ACHIM

(1934- )

Designer, director. Freyer is one of the few outstanding designer-directors working in the German theater. He began his career in the German Democratic Republic in the 1950s, designingBennoBesson's productions ofBertolt Brecht. He came under a cloud in 1970, when a production ofJohann WolfgangGoethe'sClavigohe had designed was banned; he thereafter began working steadily in West German opera. In the mid-1970s his association withClaus Peymannin Stuttgart started, and his directing debut took place at the Schlosspark Theater inBerlin. By the late 1970s he was both directing and designing operas. His most notable success came in 1988 when he worked with Robert Wilson (1941- ) onEinstein on the Beach, which led to subsequent directing/design projects exclusively for spoken drama at theBurgtheaterinVienna. His adaptation of Ovid'sMetamorphosesat the Burg was invited to the 1988 BerlinerTheatertreffen.