The Volksbühne ("People's Theatre") 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. Located in Berlin's city center
Mitte
Mitte () is the first and most central borough of Berlin. The borough consists of six sub-entities: Mitte proper, Gesundbrunnen, Hansaviertel, Moabit, Tiergarten and Wedding.
It is one of the two boroughs (the other being Friedrichshain-Kreuzb ...
on
Rosa-Luxemburg-Platz
Rosa-Luxemburg-Platz, formerly the Bülowplatz, is a square in Berlin-Mitte, Germany.
History
The square is dominated by the Volksbühne and by the Karl-Liebknecht-Haus, the headquarters of the German Left Party. The party's predecessor, the ...
(Rosa Luxemburg Square) in what was the
GDR's capital. It has been called Berlin's most iconic theatre.
About
The Volksbühne was built during the years 1913 to 1914 and was designed by
Oskar Kaufmann
Oskar Kaufmann (2 February 1873 – 8 September 1956) was a Hungarian architect. He was an expert in construction and design and was active in Berlin beginning in 1900.
Among his best-known works are the Krolloper, the Hebbel Theater and the , ...
, with integrated sculpture by
Franz Metzner
Franz Metzner (18 November 1870, Wscherau, near Plzeň – 24 March 1919, Berlin) was an influential German sculptor, particularly his sculptural figures integrated into the architecture of Central European public buildings in the Art Nouveau / ...
. It opened on December 30, 1914 and has its origin in an organization known as the "Freie Volksbühne" ("Free People's Theater") founded in 1890 by
Bruno Wille
Bruno Wille (6 February 186031 August 1928) was a German politician, writer and journalist. He was born in Magdeburg, and died in Aeschach near Lindau.
He tried to make an end to the collective ideology of the Social Democratic Party of Germany ...
and
Wilhelm Bölsche
Wilhelm Bölsche (2 January 1861 – 31 August 1939) was a German author, editor and publicist. He was among the early promoters of nature conservation and committed to popularizing science.
Life
Bölsche was born in Cologne on 2 January 1861 ...
, which sketched out the vision for a theater "of the people" in 1892. The goal of the organization was to promote the
naturalist plays
Play most commonly refers to:
* Play (activity), an activity done for enjoyment
* Play (theatre), a work of drama
Play may refer also to:
Computers and technology
* Google Play, a digital content service
* Play Framework, a Java framework
* P ...
of the day at prices accessible to the common worker. The original slogan inscribed on the edifice was "Die Kunst dem Volke" ("Art to the people"). During
World War II
World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...
, the theatre was heavily damaged like much of the rest of Berlin. From 1950 to 1954, it was rebuilt according to the design of architect
Hans Richter.
Frank Castorf
Frank Castorf (born 17 July 1951 in East Berlin) is a German theater director and was the artistic director of the ''Volksbühne am Rosa-Luxemburg-Platz'' from 1992 to 2015. His work is often associated with postdramatic theatre.
Biography
Ea ...
became director in 1992. During his 25-year tenure, through mid 2017, the theater's ambitious, experimental productions, brought it worldwide recognition as a leading European venue.
In 2015 the City of Berlin announced that Castorf would be replaced by
Chris Dercon in 2017, who himself resigned in April 2018 after what was considered by many to have been a commercially and artistically weak period for the theater.
Left-wing activists occupied the theater in September 2017.
René Pollesch René Pollesch (born 29 October 1962 in Friedberg, Hesse) is a German author and dramatist.
From 1983 to 89, he studied Applied Theatre Studies at the University of Giessen. He won the Mülheimer Dramatikerpreis in 2001 for ''world wide web-slums'' ...
was appointed to be a new director from 2021.
References
External links
Official Volksbühne website
Theatres in Berlin
Buildings and structures in Berlin
Rebuilt buildings and structures in Berlin
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