Husets Teater is a studio theatre in

Copenhagen Copenhagen ( or .; da, København ) is the capital and most populous city of Denmark, with a proper population of around 815.000 in the last quarter of 2022; and some 1.370,000 in the urban area; and the wider Copenhagen metropolitan ar ...

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. It takes its name from the Huset cultural centre in the city centre, where it was founded in 1975, but has since 1995 been based at

Halmtorvet Halmtorvet (English: The Haymarket) is a public square in the Vesterbro district of Copenhagen, Denmark. It is located next to Copenhagen Central Station in front of the Meat District. The oblong square eventually turns into Sønder Boulevard, ...

in a building which is part of the Kødbyen district.

History

The theatre grew out of the alternative cultural environment around Huset in

Magstræde Snaregade and Magstræde are two of the oldest streets in the Old Town of Copenhagen, Denmark, linking Gammel Strand at their eastern end with Rådhusstræde to the west. Snaregade extends from the small square at the Gammel Strand metro station ...

which had grown out of the political protest movement of the late 1960s. From its foundation in 1975, it served as a platform for contemporary political theatre, and both a venue for local ensembles such as ''Natholdet'' and frequently playing host to visiting international ensembles from countries such as Sweden and

Italy Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical ...

. From the mid-1980s, the theatre's repertoire became more focused on drama with plays such as

Bertholt Brecht Eugen Berthold Friedrich Brecht (10 February 1898 – 14 August 1956), known professionally as Bertolt Brecht, was a German theatre practitioner, playwright, and poet. Coming of age during the Weimar Republic, he had his first successes as a p ...

's ''

Baal Baal (), or Baal,; phn, , baʿl; hbo, , baʿal, ). ( ''baʿal'') was a title and honorific meaning "owner", "lord" in the Northwest Semitic languages spoken in the Levant during antiquity. From its use among people, it came to be applied t ...

'' and

Rainer Werner Fassbinder Rainer Werner Fassbinder (; 31 May 1945 – 10 June 1982), sometimes credited as R. W. Fassbinder, was a German filmmaker. He is widely regarded as one of the major figures and catalysts of the New German Cinema movement. Fassbinder's main ...

's controversial play ''Garbage, the City, and Death'' which in Klaus Hoffmeyer's staging caused debate for its rawness. After a duo consisting of the director Søren Iversen and Lisbeth Sjölin took over the leadership in 1992 and its move to new premises in the Brown Meat District, the theatre has created a profile as a venue for newer Danish and international drama of relevance to people of today:

Astrid Saalbach Astrid Saalbach (born 29 November 1955) is a Danish playwright and novelist. Biography She was born in Søborg and trained in acting at the Danish National Theatre School. She worked as an actor for seven years before turning to writing. In 1981 ...

's trilogy ''Morning and Evening'', ''The Blessed Child'' and ''Ashes to Ashes, Dust to Dust'' (1996–97) and Nicoline Werdelin's ''The Fanciers'' (1997) and ''My Two Sisters'' (2001). The theatre has won several

Reumert Award The Reumert Award (Danish: Årets Reumert) is an annual Danish awards ceremony to recognize excellence in theatre achievements in Denmark. The award was founded by the in 1998, and has been handed annually since then. There are 16 award categori ...

s in recent years. From 1 June 2008 the theatre has been headed by a duo consisting of actor and director Mads Wille and dramatist and director Simon K. Boberg. They came from the theatre PLAN-B which from 2002 to 2008 they ran in Husets Teater's old premises on the 4th floor in Magstræde.

Husets Teater today

The theatre has two stages, UnderHuset with 121 numbered seats and OveHuset with 70 unnumbered seats. The names are a play on the Danish words for the

House of Commons The House of Commons is the name for the elected lower house of the bicameral parliaments of the United Kingdom and Canada. In both of these countries, the Commons holds much more legislative power than the nominally upper house of parliament. T ...

''Underhuset'', literally Lower House) and the

House of Lords The House of Lords, also known as the House of Peers, is the upper house of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. Membership is by appointment, heredity or official function. Like the House of Commons, it meets in the Palace of Westminste ...

(''Overhuset'', literally Upper House) and, at the same time, refers to their location in the building. The theatre is economically subsidised by

Copenhagen Municipality Copenhagen Municipality ( da, Københavns Kommune), also known in English as the Municipality of Copenhagen, located in the Capital Region of Denmark, is the largest of the four municipalities that constitute the City of Copenhagen (), the othe ...

External links

Official website

References

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History

Husets Teater today

See also

External links

References