Theater Konstanz

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"Stadttheater" venue in Konzilstrasse 11 (2011)
"The banishment of the Hanswurst from the theater", mural by FX Hermann at the city theater in Konstanz

The Theater Konstanz is the theater of the city of Konstanz on Lake Constance , whose prehistory goes back to 1607. It operates the three venues city ​​theater , workshop and mirror hall .

history

prehistory

The city theater building was built at the beginning of the 17th century (1607–1609) as a grammar school for the Jesuit monastery in Constance . It had an auditorium upstairs that was occasionally used for school theater.

A production by Jesuit students with the drama about the life of Saint Konrad in the inner courtyard of the Jesuit College on the occasion of the consecration of the Jesuit Church on October 15, 1607 is considered the beginning of the theater play in Konstanz. The house is therefore referred to as the "longest continuously played stage in Europe". The theater advertises with "since 1607". It is 34 years before the Ulm Theater , which was founded in 1641.

After the grammar school moved to the college building in 1784, the building was sold to private individuals in 1787.

Theater story

In 1852 the building was converted into a theater, and in the 1930s the building was also changed externally through a further renovation: the stage tower and the current shape of the auditorium were created.

After the Second World War, it was re-established in the 1948/1949 season. In April 1989 the decision was made to set up a theater for children and young people in the city theater, and in May 1990 this facility could be implemented.

The repertoire changed over time. There were depictions of church history and Christian martyrs in the time of the Jesuits. Comedies in the 18th century, plays about Napoleon and plays with happy endings in the 19th century. In the 1920s, comic plays and musical theater were preferred. National Socialist pieces predominated during the National Socialist era . Pieces of music and representations that call for discussion have been offered by the city of Constance since the opening in 1952.

Due to the measures to contain the spread of infections during the coronavirus pandemic (in BW) , the theater's repertoire had to be changed a little in 2020, the performances from March 17 as well as in April and May were canceled, readings by the actors and some Music performances made available on the Internet, audio pieces produced (with password). At the already planned open-air performances of the Münster Festival in July, the number of spectators was greatly reduced, with theater in times of the pandemic a sign of hope should be set; For Christoph Nix, as the author and director of the play "Hermann the Crooked and the Earth is Round", Hermann the Lahme is a metaphor for the crooked state of the world. He referred to the medieval monk and scientist as Stephen Hawking of the first millennium. The open-air theater is being prepared for Münsterplatz and, as an open-air theater, it is intended to show that theater is possible again, even with restrictions - “and it's better outside than anywhere else”.

Venues

In addition to the actual city theater building with 400 seats, the Konstanz Theater today also uses the so-called “Spiegelhalle”, a former goods hall at the Konstanz harbor, for its productions, especially for experimental and young theater. Before the move to the Spiegelhalle, the Young Theater's performances took place in an old engine shed. There is also a small studio stage in the theater's administration and workshop building. This workshop stage offers space for up to 120 people, the mirror hall is designed for up to 200 spectators. After the end of the respective playing season in July, the ensemble regularly gives guest performances with its summer theater on the other bank of Lake Constance in Überlingen (previously in Meersburg ).

A puppet and puppet theater with up to seven productions per season was introduced on the workshop stage for the 2009/2010 season.

Numbers and dates

Visitor numbers

Between the late 1990s and the first few years of the 21st century, the stage had an annual average of 86,000 spectators. In the anniversary season 2006–2007, when the theater hosted the Baden-Württemberg Theater Days, a record attendance was achieved with over 112,000 spectators. 27,000 spectators attended the 170 performances of the Junge Theater.

financing

The theater's budget in 2008 was around six million euros, with 4.7 million euros in grants. Around one million of these grants come from the casino tax allocated to the city of Konstanz by the state of Baden-Württemberg . The gross profit was 12.5% ​​of the budget.

staff

Christoph Nix has been the artistic director of the Konstanz Theater since 2006 . The theater employs 95 people, including 22 permanent actors. There are also a large number of guest players.

Directors

Other personalities

Well-known people who are connected with the Konstanzer Theater are:

literature

  • Sabine Abele: The German Theater in Konstanz 1948–1950 , in: Writings of the Association for the History of Lake Constance and its Surroundings , 105th year 1987, pp. 151–90 ( digitized version )
  • David Bruder, Brigitte Leipold and Christoph Nix (eds.): This is where we play! 400 years of the Konstanz theater. Theater der Zeit, Berlin 2007, ISBN 978-3-934344-98-3 .
  • Michael Koch: Theater in Konstanz. 1000 years of theater . Stadler, Konstanz 1985, ISBN 3-7977-0126-8

Web links

Commons : Stadttheater (Konstanz)  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Email information from the Press Office of the Theater Konstanz, October 17, 2017: "... the official name is THEATER KONSTANZ - with the venues city theater, workshop and mirror hall".
  2. ↑ Annina Baur: April 6, 1604. Germany's oldest stage. In: Eva-Maria Bast, Annina Baur, Julia Riess: Konstanzer Kalenderblätter, Bast Medien, Überlingen 2016, ISBN 978-3-946581-04-8 , pp. 52–55.
  3. ↑ a b Theater Konstanz, venues ( Memento from September 2, 2011 in the Internet Archive )
  4. ↑ a b A look behind the scenes: Stadttheater Konstanz (PDF; 811 kB)
  5. ↑ a b c “The Young Theater” , Südkurier Konstanz, December 31, 2008
  6. ↑ Annina Baur: April 6, 1604. Germany's oldest stage. In: Eva-Maria Bast, Annina Baur, Julia Riess: Konstanzer Kalenderblätter, Bast Medien, Überlingen 2016, ISBN 978-3-946581-04-8 , pp. 52–55.
  7. ↑ Theater Konstanz wants Münster Festival in times of pandemic , Swr, April 28, 2020.
  8. ↑ Christoph Nix plans open-air theater in Konstanz despite the virus , St. Galler Tagblatt , April 30, 2020.
  9. ↑ Stadttheater Konstanz at land-am-rheinfall.ch ( Memento from January 18, 2009 in the Internet Archive )
  10. ↑ Christel Voith: "Troubled Times in Constance". In: Schwäbische Zeitung, March 24, 2009
  11. ↑ a b ZDF theater channel  ( page no longer available , search in web archives )@1@ 2Template: Toter Link / www.theaterkanal.de
  12. ↑ Michael Lünstroth: "Adorned with foreign feathers" , Südkurier Konstanz, December 18, 2008
  13. ↑ "One world, please": The plans of the new director of the Stadttheater Konstanz , St. Galler Tagblatt , May 8, 2020.

Coordinates: 47 ° 39 '49.8 "  N , 9 ° 10' 38.9"  E