ABSTRACT
Born to a Jewish family in Baden, a small town near Vienna, Max Reinhardt (1873-1943) was deeply influenced by the rich and vital culture of the nearby metropolis, quipping ironically that his cradle had been on the fourth gallery of Vienna’s famous Burgtheater. Fascinated by its remarkable protagonists, Reinhardt himself became an actor, starting his career in a minor theatre in Salzburg (Austria). He was soon discovered by Otto Brahm (1856-1912) who hired him for his legendary Deutsches Theater in Berlin, where Brahm had brought naturalism to the German stage.
