In memory of Achim Bening, actor, theater director, director of the Burg Theater | Father | 02 02 2024 | 4:05 pm

February 2, 2024, 4:05 p.m

Literary critic Sigrid Loeffler wrote that he made the Vienna Burg Theater “one of the best-run theaters in the German-speaking region, opening it up aesthetically and integrating it into the European theater scene.” Hans Joachim Benning, who was born in Magdeburg in 1934 and has lived almost continuously in Vienna since 1956, completed the Max Reinhardt seminar and was a member of the Burgtheater troupe for decades. In 1975, the Joint Actor was appointed successor to director Gerhard Klingenberg and led the Burgtheater from 1976 to 1986. He received severe criticism from conservative quarters for his commitment to Eastern European writers, whose plays he brought to the Castle. And also to choose guest directors. On the other hand, his group liked its director. Bening was director of the Zurich Schauspielhaus from 1989 to 1992 and directed several German-speaking theaters until the late 1990s. From 1993 to 2003 he taught the Max Reinhardt Seminar. In a conversation with Renata Schmitkons, he recalls this full theatrical life, the “terrible mixed air” that blew in Vienna and the power of acting.