René Pollesch, the unorthodox trailblazer of the German "discourse theatre," who blended conventional critical theory with pop culture, and director of the premier Berlin theatrical institution, Volksbühne, has passed away at 61 years old.
The passing of the director was announced by the theatre, with a spokesperson saying: "With dismay and deep sadness we must announce that the author and director René Pollesch died suddenly and unexpectedly in the morning of 26 February 2024."
No other details have been shared as of writing.
The Undeniable Influence of René Pollesch
Born in the Hessen state of Germany, Pollesch eventually became the country's preeminent practitioner of the "post-dramatic approach," the term of which was coined by Hans-Thies Lehmann in his book "Postdramatic Theatre."
Under Pollesch's forerunning initiatives that pushed the genre, it eventually overran the biggest and most prestigious stages of the country during the start of the new millennium, making him one of the few theatrical personalities in Germany to ever popularize a whole genre.
The 200 plays that the director mounted, the majority of which Pollesch wrote for and exclusively directed, had monumental financial and critical successes despite their counter-conventional nature.
This approach has even opened up interest from a newer generation that would otherwise have been more interested in attending nightclubs and concerts. Some of these titles apothegmatic include Pollesch's "Love Is Colder Than Capital" and "Solidarity Is Suicide."
A typical scene in a Pollesch-helmed show tosses out the normal structure of plot, dialogue, scenes, and even the notion that an actor should only play one character.
Instead, the director encourages his performers to let loose and essentially play around, juxtaposing the hifalutin dialogue sourced from the likes of Theodor Adorno, Donna Haraway, or Giorgio Agamben.
Pollesch doubles down on this ironic display in the act by incorporating a musical number that extensively borrows from pop culture hits like the Beach Boys' "Good Vibrations" or Frank Sinatra's "Fly Me to the Moon."
In an interview with Der Spiegel, Pollesch explained that he sees theatre as more than a lens of literature, saying, "Dealing with theory organizes experiences. It's not about understanding everything."
"That's not my point of view. I am not promoting a new elitism in the theater," he said.
