The Deutsches Theater is a
theater
Theatre or theater is a collaborative form of performing art that uses live performers, usually actor, actors or actresses, to present the experience of a real or imagined event before a live audience in a specific place, often a stage. The p ...
in
Berlin
Berlin is Capital of Germany, the capital and largest city of Germany, both by area and List of cities in Germany by population, by population. Its more than 3.85 million inhabitants make it the European Union's List of cities in the European U ...
, Germany. It was built in 1850 as Friedrich-Wilhelm-Städtisches Theater, after
Frederick William IV of Prussia
Frederick William IV (german: Friedrich Wilhelm IV.; 15 October 17952 January 1861), the eldest son and successor of Frederick William III of Prussia, reigned as King of Prussia from 7 June 1840 to his death on 2 January 1861. Also referred to ...
. Located on Schumann Street (Schumannstraße), the Deutsches Theater consists of two adjoining stages that share a common, classical facade. The main stage was built in 1850, originally for operettas.
Adolf L'Arronge founded the Deutsches Theater in 1883 with the ambition of providing Berliners with a high-quality
ensemble-based repertory company on the model of the German court theater, the
Meiningen Ensemble, which had been developed by
Georg II, Duke of Saxe-Meiningen
Georg II, Duke of Saxe-Meiningen (2 April 1826 – 25 June 1914), was the penultimate Duke of Saxe-Meiningen, reigning from 1866 to 1914. For his support for his successful court theatre he was also known as the ''Theaterherzog'' (theatre duk ...
and his colleagues to become "the most widely admired and imitated company in Europe", thanks to its historically accurate sets and costumes, vividly-realized crowd scenes, and meticulous directorial control.
[Banham (1998a) and (1998b).]
Otto Brahm
Otto is a masculine German given name and a surname. It originates as an Old High German short form (variants ''Audo'', '' Odo'', '' Udo'') of Germanic names beginning in ''aud-'', an element meaning "wealth, prosperity".
The name is recorded ...
, the leading exponent of theatrical
Naturalism in Germany, took over the direction of the theater in 1894, and applied that approach to a combination of classical productions and stagings of the work of the new
realistic playwrights.
[Banham (1998a).]
One of Brahm's ensemble, the legendary
theater
Theatre or theater is a collaborative form of performing art that uses live performers, usually actor, actors or actresses, to present the experience of a real or imagined event before a live audience in a specific place, often a stage. The p ...
director
Max Reinhardt
Max Reinhardt (; born Maximilian Goldmann; 9 September 1873 – 30 October 1943) was an Austrian-born theatre and film director, intendant, and theatrical producer. With his innovative stage productions, he is regarded as one of the most promi ...
, took over the directorship in 1904. Under his leadership, it acquired a reputation as one of the most significant theaters in the world.
[" n 1924, Brechtwas about to go as a 'dramaturg', or literary advisor, to Max Reinhardt's Deutsches Theater in Berlin, at that time one of the world's three or four leading theaters." (Willett and Manheim 1970, vii).] In 1905, he founded a
theater school and built a chamber theater. Reinhardt remained the artistic director of the theater until he fled
Nazi Germany
Nazi Germany (lit. "National Socialist State"), ' (lit. "Nazi State") for short; also ' (lit. "National Socialist Germany") (officially known as the German Reich from 1933 until 1943, and the Greater German Reich from 1943 to 1945) was ...
in 1933.
The Deutsches Theater remains one of the most prominent companies in Berlin.
References
Cited references
Other references
* Banham, Martin, ed. 1998a. "Deutsches Theater." In ''The Cambridge Guide to Theater.'' Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. . p. 294.
* ---. 1998b. "Meiningen company." In ''The Cambridge Guide to Theater.'' Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. . p. 718.
*
Willett, John and
Ralph Manheim
Ralph Frederick Manheim (April 4, 1907 – September 26, 1992) was an American translator of German and French literature, as well as occasional works from Dutch, Polish and Hungarian. He was one of the most acclaimed translators of the 20th ce ...
. 1970. Introduction. In ''Collected Plays: One'' by Bertolt Brecht. Ed. John Willett and Ralph Manheim. Bertolt Brecht: Plays, Poetry and Prose Ser. London: Methuen. . p.vii-xvii.
External links
*
{{Theatre companies in Germany
Theatres in Berlin
Theatres completed in 1850
Theatre companies in Germany