The Lady from the Sea
He then turned to acting, and studied at the Theaterhochschule "Hans Otto" Leipzig from 1975 to 1979. He appeared in his first professional stage role in 1979, as Lyngstrand in Ibsen's "Fruen fra havet" ("The Lady from the Sea") at the Städtisches Theater in Karl-Marx-Stadt (now Chemnitz). He followed this by appearing in a production of "Macbeth" by playwright and director Heiner Müller at the Volksbühne in East Berlin.