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Vienna Burgtheater Bids Farewell to Claus Peymann With Theatrical Procession

The public rite echoed his decades-long imprint on German-language theater.

Overview

  • Peymann’s simple black coffin was laid out on the Burgtheater’s Feststiege for public viewing and entries in a condolence book.
  • The ceremony was staged with a black curtain canopy at the side portal and two fire bowls on tall pedestals.
  • Author Christoph Ransmayr scattered white confetti over the coffin in a symbolic final salute.
  • Notable attendees included Harald Schmidt, Philipp Hochmair and Klaus Maria Brandauer, while director Stefan Bachmann praised Peymann as “perhaps the last theater king.”
  • Under applause from roughly 200 people, the coffin circled the theater once before returning to Germany for burial in Berlin on Friday, with a Berliner Ensemble memorial set for October 26.