Lille Grønnegade Theatre was a Danish

theatre Theatre or theater is a collaborative form of performing art that uses live performers, usually 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 perform ...

which was active from 1722 to 1728. It was the first public 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 ...

Denmark ) , song = ( en, "King Christian stood by the lofty mast") , song_type = National and royal anthem , image_map = EU-Denmark.svg , map_caption = , subdivision_type = Sovereign state , subdivision_name = Danish Realm, Kingdom of Denmark ...

History

In 1721, the French troupe

La troupe du Roi de Danemark La troupe du Roi de Danemark, or ''Roi de Danemark'' for short, was a French-speaking Danish court theatre, active at the Royal Danish court from 1682 until 1721. It was the only permanent theater in Denmark during its tenure. The first French thea ...

, which had performed for the royal court in Copenhagen since 1682, was fired by the king, who wished to hire an Italian opera troupe instead. As the French actors, who in many cases had lived in Denmark for generations, did not all wish to leave, René Magnon and another French immigrant, Etienne Capion, asked for permission to open a public theatre. They were granted royal permission and in 1722, and the first public theatre was opened in Copenhagen on Lille Grønnegade, the first Danish-language theatre open to the public. Capion was the director, Magnon was responsible for the actors, and

Marie Madeleine de Montaigu Marie Madeleine de Montaigu (née Le Croix) (1692–1736) was a Danish actor. She was employed first as a court-actor, and later became one of the first female actors to perform on a Public theatre in Denmark. Biography Marie le Croix was born in D ...

became the first actress to have performed for the Danish public at an official theatre. The female actors were few: among them were also Helene le Coffre, Maren Magdalene Lerche and Marie Madeleine's own daughter Frederikke Sophie. Plays were performed in Danish but there was also dance: in 1726,

Jean-Baptiste Landé Jean-Baptiste Landé (died 26 February 1748) was a French ballet dancer, active in Sweden, Denmark and Russia. He is the founder of the Russian Ballet Mariinsky Ballet. Sweden Landé was employed at the Polish royal court in Dresden when he was ...

was a guest ballet master. The economic troubles, however, proved to be too difficult. In 1728, the theatre was closed, and in 1730, theatre was banned in Denmark until 1746.

References

Dansk kvindebiografisk leksikon
* Gidlunds förlag: "Ny svensk teaterhistoria. Teater före 1800" (New Swedish theatre history. Theatre before 1800) (In Swedish) Former theatres in Copenhagen History of theatre 1722 establishments in Denmark 1728 disestablishments 18th century in Copenhagen {{Europe-theat-struct-stub