Heiner M"uller

German dramatist and playwright. Living in East Germany (GDR), he worked as managing, literary and artistic director at the Maxim-Gorki-Theatre (from 1958 on) and the Berliner Ensemble (from 1970 on), often staging his own productions. M"uller showed strong socialist leanings and worked in the tradition of Brechtian theatre. His initial agreement with the East German regime began to dwindle in 1960s when severals plays of his were censored and banned. He then began to work with West German theatres and ensembles and succeeded with pieces such as [i]Hamletmaschine[/i] (1979), earning him worldwide fame. M"uller was also renowned for his prose and poetry ([i]Das Ende der Handschrift. Gedichte[/i]) and publications on the theory of drama. He was born 9 January 1929 in Eppendorf, Germany and died 30 December 1995 in Berlin, Germany.