Rühle, Günther

(1924- )

   Critic, intendant. Rühle became one of the most significant critics and scholars of the German theater with his numerous book publications in the 1960s and 1970s while serving as cultural affairs editor of the Frankfurter Neue Presse and lead theater critic for the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung. In 1985 he became intendant of the Frankfurt City Theaters, a post he held until 1990 when he became cultural editor of the Berlin Tagesspiegel. Rühle has served as president of the German Academy of the Performing Arts and the Alfred Kerr Foundation and as a regular contributor to the magazine Theater Heute. He is widely acknowledged as being among the most influential critical voices in the German theater of the 20th century.