WEKWERTH, MANFRED

(1929- )

Director,intendant. Wekwerth completed doctoral studies in 1951 and began working withBertolt Brechtthe same year at theBerliner Ensemble. His directing debut with the company came two years later with Brecht'sThe Mother, starringHelene Weigel. Other important Brecht productions he directed that remained in the company's repertoire through the 1960s includedDie Tage derKommune(Days of the Commune),Der aufhaltsame Aufstieg des Arturo Ui(The Resistible Rise of Arturo Ui),Der kaukasische Kreidekreis(The Caucasian Chalk Circle), andCoriolanus; John Millington Synge'sThe Playboy of the Western Worldand Johannes R. Becher'sWinterschlacht(Winter Battle) were also part of his oeuvre. Wekwerth left the Berliner Ensemble in 1969 for work in London, Zurich, theBurgtheaterinVienna, and theDeutsches TheaterinBerlin. He founded the directing program at the Ernst Busch School in Berlin, and in 1977 returned to the Berliner Ensemble as its intendant, remaining in that position until the collapse of the German Democratic Republic.