Lothar Trolle

Together with Thomas Brasch and Einar Schleef, Lothar Trolle is one of the most important innovatorsof German-language drama in the generation after Heiner Mü ller. Like Elfriede Jelinek and (fromthe younger generation) Wolfram Lotz, he is still regarded today as a dramatist whose texts arenot written in the service of theatre but rather constantly ask new questions of it and challenge itafresh, taking it to its limits and beyond-to create a theatre of the future.Lothar Trolle celebrates his 80th birthday on 22 January 2024, at which point he will have beenworking as a freelance writer for over 50 years: as a playwright, storyteller, poet, radio dramatist,and translator. His diverse texts with all their formal variety deserve readers-new readers. Theydo not conceal their character as work-in-progress but rather make a virtue of it. As edited material,the texts should show traces of the work involved in creating them, an expression of the reality ofwriting. This may initially entail unwonted effort in reading them. But this effort is most enriching.Lothar Trolle, b. 1944 in Brü cken near Sangerhausen, is a German playwright, storyteller, poet, radiodramatist, and translator, who lives and works in Berlin. Hermes in der Stadt, one of his best-knownplays, was staged by Frank Castorf at the Deutsches Theater Berlin in 1992.