Producer
Leopold Hoesch
Director
Dag Freyer
Producer
Vera Bertram
Genre
Culture
Broadcaster
ZDFtheaterkanal / 3sat / ZDFdokukanal
Length
1 x 30'
Editor
Ed van Megen
Year
2008
Theatrescapes
Bayerisches Staatsschauspiel

Right in the centre of Munich, on the Residenz and Maximilianstraße - the famous theatre and shopping mile - lies the Bavarian State Theatre: a theatre with a long tradition and a famous ensemble.

The theatre history of the Staatsschauspiel begins in the mid-18th century with the construction of the Cuvillié Theatre or Old Residence Theatre, which is one of the most beautiful preserved rococo theatres in Europe. A jewel box that the city likes to open today on festive occasions and the first theatre in Germany to have a revolving stage and in which they replaced the candles with electric bulbs.

In the meantime, the rococo interior has been given a new place in rooms of the Residenz and the New "Resi", built after the war on the foundation walls of the old house, now stands on the site of the Old Residenz Theatre.

Great directors such as Kortner, Noelte and Fehling worked at the Residenztheater in the 1950s, and Bavarian dialect plays and classics were part of the repertoire. In the 1970s, Kurt Meisel, the theatre's artistic director, brought the theatre a golden age. The engagement of the famous Swedish director Ingmar Bergman caused a stir, however, and the construction of the Marstall as a small venue on the occasion of the opening of the Olympic Games gave the experimental avant-garde a chance at the Staatsschauspiel. Today, the ensemble of actors and artistic collaborators shapes the Residenztheater. Intendant Dieter Dorn has worked with many of them more continuously and for longer periods than probably any other director.

In 2008, Munich celebrates its 850th anniversary. In the city's birthday season, the Staatsschauspiel is presenting plays that were first performed at the Cuvilliéstheater. Tina Lanik rehearses Brecht's "In the Thicket of Cities", which was first staged here in 1923. And the Cuvilliéstheater - reopened for Munich's 800th anniversary in 1958 - shines in freshly renovated splendour for the 850th anniversary in 2008.

Theatrescapes: Bayerisches Staatsschauspiel

Right in the centre of Munich, on the Residenz and Maximilianstraße - the famous theatre and shopping mile - lies the Bavarian State Theatre: a theatre with a long tradition and a famous ensemble.

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