Benno Besson (born René-Benjamin Besson; 4 November 1922 in Yverdon-les-Bains – 16 February 2006 in Berlin, Germany) was a Swiss actor and director. He had great success as director at Volksbühne Berlin, Deutsches Theater and Berliner Ensemble in East Berlin, where he went by an invitation of Bertolt Brecht in 1949.[1]

Some of his acquainted stagings were The Dragon by Evgeny Schwartz, so that he travelled with Deutsches Theater all-around Europe and Asia (also in Japan), and Der Frieden (Aristophanes edited by Peter Hacks).[2]

He became the Intendant at Volksbühne in the 1960s and worked often with Heiner Müller.[3][4] In his plays, he worked amongst others with the popular actors Fred Düren,[5] Eberhard Esche[6] and Ursula Karusseit.[7] He had six children, including actress Katharina Thalbach.[1]

References

Further reading

• Zander, Peter (13 December 2018). "Gruppenbild mit Hase". Berliner Morgenpost. Retrieved 28 March 2022.
• Green, John (4 April 2006). "Obituary: Benno Besson". The Guardian. Retrieved 28 March 2022.
• "Zum Tod von Benno Besson: Schweizer Übervater des DDR-Theaters". Mitteldeutsche Zeitung (in German). 23 February 2006. Retrieved 28 March 2022.
• Baumbach, Gerda; Dietzmeyer, Rico; Püngel, Christoph; Sowa, Franziska Schubert und Leonie (20 November 2020), "Der fremde Freund. Proben aus der Theaterarbeit von Benno Besson in der DDR", The Brecht Yearbook / Das Brecht-Jahrbuch 45, Boydell and Brewer Limited, pp. 132–165, doi:10.1017/9781800101074.010, ISBN 978-1-80010-107-4, S2CID 234687928
• "Besson, Benno". Bundesstiftung zur Aufarbeitung der SED-Diktatur (in German). Retrieved 28 March 2022.

External links

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[es] Benno Besson

[ru] Бессон, Бенно