Ruth Berghaus

Ruth Berghaus (2 July 1927 – 25 January 1996) was a German choreographer and opera and theatre director.

Berghaus was born in Dresden and studied Expressionist dance and Dance direction with Gret Palucca there and was an advanced student at the German Academy of Arts in Berlin, at least part of the time under Walter Felsenstein - associated with the Komische Oper East Berlin he founded - along with his two other first leading protégés, Götz Friedrich and Joachim Herz (1924–2010). All three would mark a departure from Felsenstein's insistence on textual accuracy in favor of Brechtian interpretation, but were in part inspired by also his insistence on maintaining an even balance between the musical and dramatic aspects of an opera being staged. From 1951 to 1964, Berghaus worked as choreographer on many stages, including the Deutsches Theater Berlin, the Deutsche Staatsoper Berlin and the Berliner Ensemble. Her work as a director began with the Die Verurteilung des Lukullus of Paul Dessau and Bertolt Brecht, at the Deutsche Staatsoper, in 1960. Brecht's work would represent a major part of Berghaus's career. She became well known for her choreography of the slaughter scenes in Brecht's adaptation of Shakespeare's Coriolanus at the Berliner Ensemble in 1964.

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