27 Facts About Alexander Lang

Alexander Lang was a German actor and stage director.

Alexander Lang began his career, first as an actor, in East Berlin, at the Maxim Gorki Theater, the Berliner Ensemble from 1967, and the Deutsches Theater from 1969 where he played leading roles and then moved to stage direction.

Alexander Lang worked as a guest at theatres and festivals in Germany, Austria and the Netherlands; he was invited three times to direct at the Comedie-Francaise in Paris.

Alexander Lang was regarded as an influential director, especially known for productions of works from the German classical period by Goethe, Schiller, Lessing and Kleist among others, with "a new, authentic approach".

Alexander Lang was born in Erfurt, Germany, on 24 September 1941; His father was an architect.

From 1962 Alexander Lang worked as a stage technician at the Theater Erfurt.

Alexander Lang went to work for Wolfram Krempel at the Maxim Gorki Theater in Berlin in 1966, moved soon to the Berliner Ensemble in 1967, and to the Deutsches Theater in 1969, where he built his reputation as an actor.

Alexander Lang then played Paul Bauch in Volker Braun's Die Kipper in 1973, Caliban in Shakespeare's The Tempest in 1974.

Alexander Lang played the title role in Kleist's Der Prinz von Homburg in 1975, which was regarded as an extroardiny portrayal of a Prussion officer who misses happiness for duty, directed by Andreas Dresen.

Alexander Lang appeared in the title role in Heiner Muller's Philoktet in 1977.

Alexander Lang appeared in the title role in the monumental production of Goethe's Faust II, staged in 1983 by Friedo Solter, alongside Dieter Mann as Mephisto.

Alexander Lang began directing drama productions at Deutsches Theater in the late 1970s; when the directors of Philoktet opposed his ideas for the title role and resigned in 1977, Alexander Lang and his colleagues Christian Grashof and Roman Kaminski took over and presented the play as a teamwork.

Actors in Alexander Lang's ensemble included Margit Bendokat, Michael Gwisdek, Dieter Montag and Katja Paryla.

Alexander Lang directed Horribilicribrifax by Andreas Gryphius in 1978 and Ernst Toller's Der entfesselte Wotan in 1979.

Alexander Lang staged Shakespeare's Ein Sommernachtstraum in 1980, with Bendokat, Paryla, Kaminski and Mann.

In 1985 Alexander Lang directed for the first time in West Germany, Schiller's Don Karlos at the Munchner Kammerspiele.

Alexander Lang's next planned production was a presentation of Wagner's Der Ring des Nibelungen at the Berlin State Opera, but this production was indefinitely postponed.

In 1988 Alexander Lang returned to Munich and staged Bernard-Marie Koltes' In der Einsamkeit der Baumwollfelder.

In February 1988, Alexander Lang was recruited by Jurgen Flimm to the Thalia Theater in Hamburg, where he became the resident theatre director in succession to Jurgen Gosch.

Eight months before the fall of the Berlin Wall in November 1989, Alexander Lang had been able to cross the border to West Berlin where he took a job as senior director at the Schillertheater.

Alexander Lang staged at the Schillertheater in 1989 Bernhard Minetti's Marchen in Deutschland based on fairy-tales of the Brothers Grimm as well as Schiller's Die Rauber.

Alexander Lang worked as a guest director with the Comedie-Francaise in Paris, staging Kleist's Der Prinz von Homburg in 1994, Lessing's Nathan der Weise in 1999, and Goethe's Faust I in 1999; he was the only German director to be invited three times.

Alexander Lang directed at the Kammerspiele, Herbert Achternbusch's Der letzte Gast in 1996, and at the Bregenzer Festspiele.

Alexander Lang directed several more productions at the Maxim Gorki Theater when Volker Hesse was general manager, Gorki's Nachtasyl in 2003, Ewers' Das Wundermarchen von Berlin in 2005 and Kleist's Der zerbrochene Krug in 2006.

Alexander Lang lived with the actress Katja Paryla; they had a son.

Alexander Lang was later married to Annette Reber, dramaturge of the Maxim Gorki Theater; she died in 2008 aged 43.

Alexander Lang had a severe illness in the 2000s; he had no legs, lived in a wheelchair and withdrew from the public.