Grillo-Theater is a theatre in

Essen Essen (; Latin: ''Assindia'') is the central and, after Dortmund, second-largest city of the Ruhr, the largest urban area in Germany. Its population of makes it the fourth-largest city of North Rhine-Westphalia after Cologne, Düsseldorf and Do ...

, Germany. Named after the industrialist

Friedrich Grillo Henrich Friedrich Theodor Ernst Grillo (20 December 1825, Essen – 16 April 1888, Düsseldorf-Grafenberg) was a prominent industrialist in the Ruhr area of Germany, particularly in Essen and Gelsenkirchen. Born the son of an Essen merchant, int ...

, who made the building possible, it opened on 16 September 1892 with

Lessing Lessing is a German surname of Slavic origin, originally ''Lesnik'' meaning "woodman". Lessing may refer to: A German family of writers, artists, musicians and politicians who can be traced back to a Michil Lessigk mentioned in 1518 as being a lin ...

's drama ''

Minna von Barnhelm ''Minna von Barnhelm or the Soldiers' Happiness'' (german: Minna von Barnhelm oder das Soldatenglück, ) is a ''lustspiel'' or comedy by the German author Gotthold Ephraim Lessing. It has five acts, was begun in 1763 and completed in 1767 – ...

''. The building was badly damaged in World War II; it was restored with a much simpler façade and re-opened in 1950 with Wagner's opera ''

Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg (; "The Master-Singers of Nuremberg"), WWV 96, is a music drama, or opera, in three acts, by Richard Wagner. It is the longest opera commonly performed, taking nearly four and a half hours, not counting two breaks between acts, and is tradit ...

''. Notable directors included

Erwin Piscator Erwin Friedrich Maximilian Piscator (17 December 1893 – 30 March 1966) was a German theatre director and producer. Along with Bertolt Brecht, he was the foremost exponent of epic theatre, a form that emphasizes the socio-political content o ...

Jean-Louis Barrault Jean-Louis Bernard Barrault (; 8 September 1910 – 22 January 1994) was a French actor, director and mime artist who worked on both screen and stage. Biography Barrault was born in Le Vésinet in France in 1910. His father was 'a Burgund ...

, ,

Hansgünther Heyme Hansgünther Heyme (born 22 August 1935) is a German theatre director and prominent figure in the Regietheater movement of the 1960s and 70s. Born in Bad Mergentheim, he studied at Heidelberg University and then under the German director Erwin Pi ...

Caspar Neher Caspar Neher (born Rudolf Ludwig Caspar Neher; 11 April 1897 – 30 June 1962) was an Austrian-German scenographer and librettist, known principally for his career-long working relationship with Bertolt Brecht. Neher was born in Augsburg. He a ...

became head of design in 1927 and designed here eight operas and 11 plays. In 1988, the role of the Grillo-Theater as Essen's major stage venue was taken by the newly constructed

Aalto Theatre The Aalto Theatre (Aalto-Theater) is a performing arts venue in Essen, Germany, and is home to the city's opera company Aalto-Musiktheater and the ballet company Aalto Ballett. The serve as the venue's orchestra. The theatre opened on 25 Septemb ...

which also opened with ''Die Meistersinger''. Following a major reconstruction by the architect and a reduction of the auditorium from 670 to 400 seats, the Grillo-Theater became a flexible smaller venue; it re-opened in September 1990 with Shakespeare's ''

A Midsummer Night's Dream ''A Midsummer Night's Dream'' is a comedy written by William Shakespeare 1595 or 1596. The play is set in Athens, and consists of several subplots that revolve around the marriage of Theseus and Hippolyta. One subplot involves a conflict a ...

''.

External links

* * Theatres in Essen Theatres completed in 1892 {{NorthRhineWestphalia-struct-stub