Karl Heinz Stroux

Karl Heinz Stroux (25 February 1908 – 2 August 1985) was a German actor, film and theatre director, and theatre manager. As the director of the Düsseldorfer Schauspielhaus from 1955 to 1972 he opened the new building in 1970.[1]

Karl Heinz Stroux
Born
Karl-Heinz Stroux

(1908-02-25)25 February 1908
Hamborn, Germany
Died2 August 1985(1985-08-02) (aged 77)
Düsseldorf, Germany
Alma materSchauspielschule of the Volksbühne theatre
Occupation
Known forDirector of the Düsseldorfer Schauspielhaus

Career

Born Karl-Heinz Stroux, the son of a physician, in Hamborn (now a district in the city of Duisburg), he studied in Berlin, history and philosophy until 1930. Parallel, he studied acting at the Schauspielschule of the Volksbühne theatre. From 1928 to 1930 he worked as an assistant to stage directors Karlheinz Martin and Jürgen Fehling, and as an actor. From 1930 to 1934 he worked at several Berlin theatres including Deutsches Theater and the Theater am Schiffbauerdamm where he staged Eugene O'Neill's Alle Kinder Gottes haben Flügel as a studio production.[2] By the late 1940s he had been a senior director at several German theatres including ones in Darmstadt, Berlin (Hebbel-Theater) and Wiesbaden. From 1951 to 1955 he was the senior director at Berlin's Schiller Theater and Schlosspark Theater. At the Schlosspark, he directed the German premiere of Samuel Beckett's Waiting for Godot in 1953 with the author in the audience.[3]

Düsseldorfer Schauspielhaus, where Stroux was Generalintendant from 1955 to 1972

In 1955 he succeeded Gustaf Gründgens as Generalintendant of the Düsseldorfer Schauspielhaus. He staged the premiere in German of Beckett's Happy Days in Düsseldorf in 1961. He also worked closely with the playwrights Eugène Ionesco and Heinrich Böll. His actors included Bernhard Minetti and Ernst Schröder,[3] Elisabeth Bergner, Elisabeth Flickenschildt, Paula Wessely, Ernst Deutsch and Fritz Kortner.[4] His production of Ionesco's Der König stirbt was performed in the first Berliner Theatertreffen (Berlin theatre meeting) in 1964. He also staged works by Arthur Miller and Sławomir Mrożek.[5] During his era, a new building of the Düsseldorfer Schauspielhaus was built that he opened in 1970.[5] Occasionally he still acted, for example as narrator in Shakespeare's Perikles at age 77.[1]

Stroux died in Düsseldorf.[3] His sons pursued similar careers: Thomas Stroux (born 1943) is also a theatre director,[6] and Stephan Stroux (born 1945) is also an artist, theatre director and an actor.[7] On the occasion of his centenary in 2008, Düsseldorf arranged an exhibition of his 50 years of work for the theatre.[5]

Filmography
  • 1931 (1931): M (actor)
  • 1939 (1939): Morgen werde ich verhaftet (director)
  • 1949 (1949): The Great Mandarin (writer, director)
  • 1949 (1949): Begegnung mit Werther (director)[8]
  • 1961 (1961): Wir sind noch einmal davongekommen (director)
  • 1962 (1962): Vor Sonnenuntergang (director)
  • 1968 (1968): Das Käthchen von Heilbronn (director)
  • 1970 (1970): Triumph des Todes oder Das große Massakerspiel (director)
  • 1984 (1984): Die Dame und die Unterwelt (actor)

References
  1. (12 August 1985) Gestorben / Karl Heinz Stroux, Der Spiegel (in German)
  2. Karl Heinz Stroux Munzinger (in German)
  3. Craig, George; Fehsenfeld, Martha Dow; Overbeck, Lois More (eds.) (2011). The Letters of Samuel Beckett:, Volume 2; Volumes 1941–1956, p. 718. Cambridge University Press
  4. Theatermuseum der Landeshauptstadt Düsseldorf, Dumont-Lindemann-Archiv. Retrieved 17 July 2013 (in German).
  5. (31 July 2008) Karl Heinz Stroux zum 100. Geburtstag, musenblaetter.de (in German)
  6. APA (5 June 2007). "Thomas Stroux erhält Goldenes Verdienstzeichen der Republik Österreich". Retrieved 8 July 2013 (in German)
  7. Stephan Stroux
  8. Hölscher, Hans E. (10 March 1949). Das Herz ist das Schicksal!. Die Zeit. Retrieved 10 July 2013 (in German).
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