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Stephane Braunschweig’s biography
Stéphane Braunschweig was born in 1964.
After studying philosophy at the École normale supérieure in Paris,
he joined the drama school of the Théâtre national de Chaillot
directed by Antoine Vitez in 1987. In 1988, he founded his own
company, the Théâtre-Machine, with which he produced Büchner’s
Woyzeck, (1988), Brecht’s Drums in the Night (1989) von Horvath’s
Don Juan Comes Back from the War (1991), Sophocles’ Ajax (1992),
Chekhov’s The Cherry Orchard (1992), and Thomas Mann’s Doctor
Faustus (1993).
S. Braunschweig was director of the Centre dramatique national /
Orléans-Loiret-Centre from 1993 to June 1998. His creations in
© Élisabeth Carecchio
Orléans include Shakespeare’s A Winter’s Tale (1993), Kleist’s
Amphitryon (1994), Frank Wedekind’s Franziska (1995), Ibsen’s Peer Gynt (1996), Brecht’s
In the Jungle of Cities (1997) and Shakespeare’s The Merchant of Venice (1999).
He was director of the Théâtre national de Strasbourg and its national drama school
between 2000 and 2008, and his productions include Aeschylus‘ Prometheus Bound (February
2001), Olivier Py’s L’Exaltation du labyrinthe (April 2001), Chekhov’s The Seagull (November
2001), Kleist’s The Schroffenstein Family (October 2002), Ibsen’s Ghosts (January 2003),
Molière’s Misanthrope
(November 2003), Ibsen’s Brand (February 2005), Pirandello’s Clothing the naked (January
2006), Hanokh Levin’s Dreaming Child (March 2006), Chekhov’s Three Sisters (2007), and
Molière’s Tartuffe (2008).
He also directed plays abroad, Shakespeare’s Measure for Measure (in English) at Edinburgh
Festival in 1997, The Merchant of Venice (in Italian) at Milan’s Piccolo Teatro (1999) and (in
German),
Büchner’s Woyzeck at Munich‘s Residenz Theater (1999), as well as Ghosts by Ibsen, a co-production between the Théâtre national de Strasbourg and the Frankfurter Schauspiel (2003).
His French productions have been presented in different European cities (London, Edinburgh,
Berlin, Munich, Frankfurt, Istanbul, Madrid, Rome, Moscow, Québec, Dublin...).
S. Braunschweig has also been successful in the opera, directing Bartok’s Bluebeard’s Castle
(Théâtre du Châtelet - Paris, 1993), Beethoven’s Fidelio (Staatsoper - Berlin, Théâtre du
Châtelet - Paris, Jerusalem festival, La Fenice - Venice, 1995), Dazzi’s La Rosa de Ariadna
(1995), Janacek’s Jenufa (Théâtre du Châtelet - Paris 1996), Verdi’s Rigoletto (La Monnaie Brussels, 1998), Mozart’s Magic Flute (Aix-en-Provence Festival, 1999, Edinburgh Festival
2000), Janacek’s The Makropoulos Affair (Aix-en-Provence Festival, 2000), Richard Strauss’
Elektra (Opéra du Rhin - Strasbourg, La Monnaie - Brussels, September 2002) and Verdi’s
Don Carlo (La Scala – Milan, 2008). At the Aix-en-Provence Festival he directed Alban Berg’s
Wozzeck with Daniel Harding as conductor in July 2003, and from 2006 to 2009 he created
Wagner’s Ring with the Berliner
Philharmoniker conducted by Sir Simon Rattle, The Rhine Gold in 2006, Walkyrie in 2007,
Siegfried in 2008 and The Twilight of the Gods in 2009, all presented at Salzburg Easter
Festival from 2007 to 2010. He will stage Pelleas and Melisande by Debussy at the Opéra-Comique
in Paris in June 2010, conducted by Sir John Eliott Gardiner.
Stéphane Braunschweig is the director of La Colline - national theatre since january 2010,
where he presented Rosmersholm and A Doll’s House by Ibsen (2009); Lulu by Wedekind (2010);
during the 2011-2012 season he presented two plays by Arne Lygre, I disappear (2011) and
Tage unter (Days Beneath) which was created in Berlin (2011) and presented in German at
La Colline in February 2012. In July 2012, Stéphane Brunschweig created Six Characters in
Search of an Author based on Luigi Pirandello’s play at the Cloître des Carmes as part of
the 66th edition of the Festival d’Avignon, then performed at La Colline in September and as
part of a national tour which was extended until January 2013.
In 2014, he staged The Wilde Duck by Henrik Ibsen, created at La Colline on the 10th January
2014, and Glückliche Tage (Happy days) by Samuel Beckett in German, created in Düsseldorf
and then played at La Colline in June 2014. The Wilde Duck was invited by the Ibsen festival
and presented in the autumn 2014 at the National Theatre of Oslo ; this show will be played
again at La Colline in January 2016 and will also tour during the 2015-2016 season.
In October 2014, Stéphane Braunschweig staged Nothing of me by Arne Lygre at La Colline.
Mountain Giants, created in September 2015 is Stéphane Braunschweig third staging of a
Pirandello play. In May 2016, at the Comédie-Française (salle Richelieu) he will stage Britannicus
by Jean Racine.
He published with Actes Sud a collection of texts and interviews about theatre entitled
Petites Portes, Grands Paysages (Small Doors, Great Landscapes) and translated plays from
German, Italian, or Norwegian of plays by Büchner, Kleist, Brecht, Pirandello and Lygre.