Many of us were saddened to learn of the passing on 1 September 2022 of life member Max Wenner, at the age of 96, GEDS oldest member.
Max was active in GEDS for many years acting in 35 plays. After arriving in Geneva in 1964 his first performance was in 1965 in Yes and No and his last stage appearance was in Shakespeare’s As You Like It in 2012 in the role of Corin. One of his most memorable performances was in the title role of Hadrian VII when he bore an uncanny resemblance to Pope John Paul II. After this date he remained a loyal supporter unfailingly attending all GEDS plays as an audience member until leaving Switzerland in March 2021 to go and live with his daughter in Brighton, England.
He also directed 2 plays for GEDS, On Stage 1972 and in 1973 The Shewing-up of Blanco Posnet. He served 6 seasons on the committee, three of them as publicity manager.
He was also no stranger to GAOS audiences having appeared in several musicals, pantomimes and music halls.
Professionally he worked at CERN, though a couple of times took off time to do humanitarian work. In the early 80s, during the war in Cambodia, he worked for the Swiss International Red Cross as an international delegate based in Thailand in a refugee camp on the border of Cambodia and Thailand.
The funeral will be taking place on 27 September in Brighton. Max’s family are hoping to hold a memorial in Geneva at a later date.
Our sincere condolences go to his daughter, two sons and their families.
Any tributes to Max for inclusion in this post can be sent to chair@geds.ch
Jane Easton
Max was a part of my GEDS experience right from the start, over 50 years ago. In October 1969 I was drafted in to make up the cast for a joint GEDS venture, “The Right Honourable Gentleman”, and there first met Max who, as usual, had a fairly major role.
Max was a man of modest mien, though he had little to be modest about. His parts ranged from GAOS Music Hall chairman to his much-hailed and challenging role as the eponymous pope in “Hadrian the Seventh” – at the age of 75.
His Anglo-Swiss nationality enabled him to make occasional forays to zones of conflict for the Red Cross. But he was also fond of telling tales about his service in Burma in the British Army in World War Two.
GEDS has lost one of its most accomplished, as well as longest-serving, members.
David Stieber
I was very sad to learn of Max Wenner’s death.
Max was an admirable and friendly man whose active life and philosophy were well portrayed in the BBC programme Young at Heart. (I was delighted to listen to this for the first time, and to hear his voice again; I urge everyone to click on the button and listen.)
As someone very keen on the theatre but unable to learn lines, I seized the chance of a non-speaking role as a cardinal in the GEDS production of Hadrian VII. Alas, even though I had nothing to say, I managed to forget my moves as I processed around the stage in robes, swinging incense behind Max as the eponymous Pope. (Max, of course, managed to memorized reams of text at the age of 75.)
A couple of years after that, I encountered Max on the ski slopes. Though a couple of decades older than me, he was far better at that too.
I got to know Max a little at playreadings in the English Church Hall, where he encouraged my attempts at acting with script in hand. We would also chat when I sometimes gave him a lift back to his flat in Grand-Saconnex. He had a regular lunch date with the late Nic Sommer, another much lamented GEDS member.
Max’s recipe for staying young, as he says in the Young at Heart programme, was to maintain physical and mental interests and be open to new things and new people. Lessons for us all!
My sympathies to his family.
David Lewis
Dear Max,
We first met at your flying saucer landing, in our… “Salad Days”.
We last met at your arrival in Malta airport. You laughed out loud when I asked if “your saucer had a good flight”.
Between those two encounters, we had years of a special stage-friendship. I was one of your fervent admirers and you always had a kind word for my performances.
As glaring on stage as you were discreet in life, your presence is missed.
Faithfull to our inside joke, I will continue to picture you flying, somewhere, somehow, on a Flying Saucer. Bon voyage, mon ami.
Frou-Frou
Despite the numerous plays that we were in together, my abiding memory of Max was his fantastic performance in LTG’s production of ‘Insignificance’ directed by Walter Acosta.
He played the part of Albert Einstein which was about the size of the Book of Genesis, an absolute gargantuan role and he played it brilliantly with absolutely no fuss as if he’d been playing it all his life.
When he was cast as the Pope in ‘Hadrian VII’, another huge role, I remember thinking that Max was going to have no problem; his only problem was dealing with actors like me who was always getting his lines back to front, producing a look of Papal concern on Max’s face such that I’d remember to get them the right way round the next time.
What a lovely man!
In fond tribute,
Julian Finn
Sometime in the middle of 1996 or so, I read aloud my first words in any kind of GEDS event. It was playreading of Much Ado about Nothing and I was a very late replacement to read the part of Verges to Max’s Dogberry; the comically officious watchmen, full of malapropisms. I was fairly terrified but what a piece of luck to have Max next to me. He was that day, what he always was, a great acting technician and a generous co-performer. He always had a few but nonetheless really helpful words and tips which he imparted with kindness and no hint of superiority.
Likewise the first production I performed in was Ayckbourne’s A Chorus of Disapproval and again here was Max forming a beautiful husband and wife team with Wendy Grey. Tight on lines and cues and extracting all the humour from the lines without ever milking it. His character was a confused simple type but Max was, of course, someone with a very sharp and keen mind.
We shared the stage again a couple of years later as a pair of mobsters in another Ayckbourne, Communicating Doors, where I had the pleasure of reading a bedtime story while I was wearing a long blond wig, me centre stage alone, Max in the wings. His skill at serious drama was showcased in the production of Hadrian VII leading as a medieval English pope with his fine performance in the lead role. Of course, he did so much for GEDS production decades before even my time from the mid 90s.
I also recall how well Max understood non-vocal stagecraft, which he brilliantly demonstrated in a GEDS newcomers evening, showing how stature, posture and position conveyed so much about a character and their relationships and statuses in the piece. I learnt a great deal from Max and any play, reading or just just chatting to him was always truly pleasurable. One always had a sense that there were so many unspoken layers to Max. So much he seems to have done in a long life.
Outside of theatre, Max was always great to talk to, his passion for outdoor activities, even later in life, were inspiring. Very much one of a kind and much missed.
Malcolm Grant
BBC Sounds inteview in 2001 for a BBC WORLD series on Young at Heart
Max Wenner is 74 years old and lives in Geneva. In one day he enjoys a spot of skiing with his son on the French Alps, then nips back to Geneva for play rehearsals. Keeping fit is a priority.