Drama, Theatre and Performance Speaker Series: Reinhard Kuhnert, Actor and Writer

‘Theatre in Germany before and after Reunification: Experiences of a Playwright working in two political systems’

Born in East-Berlin, Reinhard Kuhnert studied Creative Writing and Drama in Leipzig. Since 1967 he workied as a playwright, actor and director at theatres in East-Germany. In 1983 he requested permission to leave East-Germany, as all his plays, radio plays, television plays, songs and lyrics were banned from public performances. In 1985 he emigrated to West-Germany and continued to work with theatre companies in Germany, Ireland and other countries. From 1994 – 2007 he had a second domicile in Galway where he was guest lecturer at NUI Galway for a while. He was very successful as a narrator for audiobooks and in dubbing, lending his voice to actors such as Kevin Spacey, Pierce Brosnan and James Woods. In 2013 he published the novel Abgang ist allerwÌ_rts, a book about everyday life in the 1980s in a little village in the GDR.