Her work as a director began with the Die Verurteilung des Lukullus of Paul Dessau and Bertolt Brecht, at the Deutsche Staatsoper, in 1960.

After two decades of an aesthetic and intellectual standstill—driven by the strict regiment of the Brecht heirs—Ruth Berghaus’ direction brought an audacious and innovative approach to the Berliner Ensemble.

With the support of the Brecht heirs and the Central Committee of the SED, Manfred Wekwerth—who later was recognized as an “informal collaborator” of the Stasi—succeeded in disempowering Ruth Berghaus and installing himself as director in 1977.

Leading protégés of both would from a similarly strong collaboration in Hamburg in the late 1990s and first half of the past decade – in Peter Konwitschny and Ingo Metzmacher.

In 1985, in Prague, she directed Alban Berg's Wozzeck and, in Dresden, Die Weise von Liebe und Tod des Cornets Christoph Rilke by Siegfried Matthus.

Performed and published posthumously, the only representation of Ruth Berghaus on film is Weber's Der Freischütz, a Zurich revival of 1999, as conducted by Nikolaus Harnoncourt.