Peter Zadek: The Outsider Who Has Come Inside

Peter Zadek, now in his eighties, is among the most honoured and respected stage directors in Germany, a nation which during most of the past century has privileged stage directors above all other theatre artists. Zadek's central position is somewhat surprising in that he began his professional career in England and has in his repertoire, his public statements and his artistic approach sought to position himself outside the mainstream German tradition. This survey of his lengthy career seeks to illuminate this paradox, to show the nature and extent of Zadek's singularity and also to suggest what features in his approach have attracted such a devoted following within a culture he has never claimed as his own.