Bastian Kraft

Born 1980 in Göppingen. His first productions took place during his studies of Applied Theatre Studies in Giessen, which he completed in 2007 with his diploma production of Marguerite Duras' The Malady of Death (Die Krankheit Tod). This was followed by three seasons as assistant director at the Burgtheater in Vienna. With his production of Franz Kafka's America (Amerika) at Thalia Theater Hamburg, he won the Audience Award at the Radikal Jung Festival in 2010. Two years later he won it again with his production of Thomas Mann's Felix Krull at Münchner Volkstheater. This was followed by directorial work in, among others, Cologne, Stuttgart and Frankfurt am Main as well as regularly at the Schauspielhaus Zurich, the Burgtheater Vienna and the Thalia Theater Hamburg. Again and again, he adapted novels for the stage, for example Dostojewski's Crime and Punishment (Schuld und Sühne) in Frankfurt in 2016, Thomas Mann's Buddenbrooks in Zurich in 2017 or Klaus Mann's Mephisto at the Burgtheater Vienna in 2018. At the Deutsches Theater Berlin he staged among others Max Frisch's Biography: A Game (Biografie: Ein Spiel) 2012, Friedrich Dürrenmatt's The Visit (Der Besuch der alten Dame) 2014 and The Beauty of East Berlin (Die Schönheit von Ostberlin) after Ronald M. Schernikau 2014. In 2017, he won the Friedrich-Luft-Preis of the Berliner Morgenpost for his production of Arthur Miller's Death of a Salesman (Tod eines Handlungsreisenden).