The Deutsches Theater is a

theater Theatre or theater is a collaborative form of performing art that uses live performers, usually actors to present experiences of a real or imagined event before a live audience in a specific place, often a stage. The performers may communi ...

Berlin Berlin ( ; ) is the Capital of Germany, capital and largest city of Germany, by both area and List of cities in Germany by population, population. With 3.7 million inhabitants, it has the List of cities in the European Union by population withi ...

, Germany. It was built in 1850 as Friedrich-Wilhelm-Städtisches Theater, after

Frederick William IV of Prussia Frederick William IV (; 15 October 1795 – 2 January 1861), the eldest son and successor of Frederick William III of Prussia, was King of Prussia from 7 June 1840 until his death on 2 January 1861. Also referred to as the "romanticist on the th ...

. 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 The Meiningen Ensemble, also known as the Meiningen Company, was a troupe of actors led by the Duke of Saxe-Meiningen, his wife Ellen Franz, and Ludwig Chronegk. The group operated from about 1860 to 1890. The Meininger company had great influen ...

, 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 duke ...

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 Brahm (born Otto Abrahamsohn on 5 February 1856 in Hamburg; died 28 November 1912 in Berlin) was a German drama and literary critic, theatre manager and director. His productions were noted for being accurate and realistic. He was involved i ...

, 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

director

Max Reinhardt Max Reinhardt (; born Maximilian Goldmann; 9 September 1873 – 30 October 1943) was an Austrian-born Theatre director, theatre and film director, theater manager, intendant, and theatrical producer. With his radically innovative and avant-gard ...

, 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, officially known as the German Reich and later the Greater German Reich, was the German Reich, German state between 1933 and 1945, when Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party controlled the country, transforming it into a Totalit ...

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 ...

. 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 1850 establishments in Prussia Theatres in Berlin Theatres completed in 1850 Theatre companies in Germany Frederick William IV of Prussia