Theater on Goetheplatz

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Theater on Goetheplatz
Theater on Goetheplatz
location
Address: Goetheplatz 1–3
City: Bremen
Coordinates: 53 ° 4 '20 "  N , 8 ° 48' 55"  E Coordinates: 53 ° 4 '20 "  N , 8 ° 48' 55"  E
Architecture and history
Opened: 1913
Spectator: 868 seats
Internet presence:
Website: Theater Bremen

The Theater am Goetheplatz (colloquially Goethetheater called) is the largest venue of the Theater Bremen . It is aligned to the north directly on Goetheplatz at the western exit of the Ostertorsteinweg and at the eastern end of the ramparts . The building has been a listed building since 2005 .

development

The theater first opened as a playhouse on August 15, 1913 with a performance of Oscar Wilde's A Woman Without Matter. After the destruction in World War II , it was rebuilt, and on August 27, 1950, the 1111-seat Theater am Ostertor , as it was initially named, was able to start operations. The mayor Theodor Spitta , the Senator for Art and Science Christian Paulmann and the poet Rudolf Alexander Schröder attended the celebration . As the first performance, Willi Hanke staged Johann Wolfgang von Goethe's Egmont .

The auditorium of the theater on Goetheplatz in 2008

After the construction of the New Playhouse, an entrance was created behind the eastern administration building, and later the box office was also moved here. The Theater am Goetheplatz now offers space for up to 868 spectators. As the main venue of the Bremen Opera, it has over 794 regular seats (466 in the stalls , 124 on the first tier, 180 on the second tier and 24 on the side tiers). The capacity can be increased to 868 by including the 74 orchestra seats in front of the stalls. In addition to music theater, plays are staged on the stage, including the traditional Christmas fairy tale every year , as well as isolated dance theater productions.

Building history

The building was built between 1912 and 1913 according to plans by the architects August Abbehusen and Otto Blendermann . It replaced the theater on Neustadtswall, where the modern stands today. Immediately after the end of the war in 1945 , there were first considerations regarding the rebuilding of the theater. Since the state theater in the ramparts had been completely destroyed by the air raids, but the foundation walls and the column facade of the theater were still preserved, it was decided to reactivate the latter. The city's building administration commissioned the Bremen-based architect and building officer a. D. Hans Storm and the architect Werner Commichau . In cooperation with the Berlin theater architect Walther Unruh, they conceived the plans for a full theater. H. Warkus was responsible for the interior design.

The designs for the new house were approved on June 24, 1948 by the Bremen citizenship , which provided the financial means for the reconstruction. In the months that followed, the new building grew continuously. During this time, Wilhelm Maß was the site manager and Rudolf Kraege was the acoustician. From an architectural point of view, the new house was largely similar to its predecessor. The most obvious changes from the outside were the elimination of the gable relief as well as the construction of a flat roof, over which the gable now towered, and a simplification of the column capitals . These measures make the building look stricter. A revolving stage was installed and the entire stage set back - for reasons of better integration of the music theater, to create more space for the orchestra pit and to increase the audience capacity.

The theater on Goetheplatz, left (east) the administration wing

It had been decided to carry out two successive, staggered construction stages. The first was completed with the construction of the building and included the expansion of the entire auditorium and the main stage. The second provided for the addition of a side and a back stage to the main stage as well as an extensive enlargement of all rooms for staff and technology belonging to the operation. This second construction phase began in June 1955. The hydraulic fore stage above the orchestra pit was redesigned and pilasters were erected on both sides to house a new, integrated headlight system. Due to the improved lighting conditions, the front stage could also be used for large theater productions. Furthermore, a new curtain was installed between the auditorium and the fore stage, which guaranteed that the stage set could be changed during the breaks between performances. A new wing of the building was also built parallel to Ostertorsteinweg and to the east of the main building. If, according to the original plans, this should accommodate the offices of the theater management, rehearsal rooms, magazines and workshops were set up after the opening. This centralization made it unnecessary to commute to the theater ruins in the ramparts, in which some rehearsal rooms had previously been maintained.

In the summer of 1959, before the start of the 1959/1960 season, the second construction phase began. The east wing was completed and in it a 500 m² set store, the locksmith's shop, the furniture store, the technical management, the stage design, the costume department, the tailoring, the Schumacher and decorator's workshop, the carpentry, the painting room and a 50 m² solo Rehearsal room. In addition, the stage technology was improved. For example, the stage management desk received an electro-acoustic call system to the artists' cloakroom and a camera was installed next to the prompter box to film the conductor so that the choir could see him on a screen. Another innovation was the enlargement of the back stage to 22 meters wide and ten meters deep and the installation of an oil heater for the house, which held 50,000 liters in two tanks. The construction work was completed in the summer of 1960.

The theater box office was on the ground floor of the eastern extension; today there is a restaurant here

The first renovation of the theater for around two million marks took place in the 1973/74 season, the first under Peter Stoltzenberg. In the auditorium, the old domed ceiling was replaced with a new ceiling with better acoustics and the walls were given new wood paneling.

In the 1989/1990 season the venue underwent a far-reaching renovation costing 30 million marks after the general manager had already stated that the building complex was “like an old car” that needed a lot of fuel and many repairs. The construction work, during which the opera division was outsourced to outdoor venues, dragged on over a period of over a year. Among other things, the main stage was enlarged, equipped with more modern technology and lowered, which allowed the orchestra pit and the right-hand side stage to be given more space. Furthermore, the revolving stage was removed, a new upper machinery with 58 trains was installed and a new wing of the building for workshops was built east of the main building and as a connection to the new theater, which houses the painting room, the metalworking shop and the carpentry shop.

Twelve years later, another comprehensive renovation of the theater on Goetheplatz was necessary. The one and a half year renovation work forced those responsible to let the music theater division switch to external stages again. Several productions were staged in the then unsuccessful Musical Theater Bremen . The cost of the construction work totaled 16.5 million marks, of which the city of Bremen and the “Wohnliche Stadt” foundation each took over 7.5 million marks. The remaining 1.5 million marks were contributed in the form of donations and sponsorship money. The theater on Goetheplatz was reopened with a “theater magic” in which all branches participated.

From January 2009, the contracts for the renovation of the upper and lower machinery of the venue were put out to tender. The central control system consisted of various outdated systems and was to be standardized. For financing reasons, the construction work was staggered in three stages.

Theater gallery Bremen

From the 2007 / '08 season to the 2011 / '12 season, the Theatergalerie Bremen presented contemporary art in the foyer rooms of the Theater am Goetheplatz. The works of internationally known artists such as Ai Weiwei , Candida Höfer and Armin Mueller-Stahl were shown there. The project was initiated by Hans-Joachim Frey , general manager of the Bremen Theater and the art and cultural scientist Annette Schneider . The concept was continued under the five-member directorate in the 2010 / '11 and 2011 / '12 seasons, while the Theatergalerie Bremen was closed with the change of director in the 2012 / '13 season. In 2008 the concept was selected by the Germany - Land of Ideas initiative as a “Landmark in the Land of Ideas”.

See also

literature

Web links

Commons : Theater am Goetheplatz  - collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Monument database of the LfD
  2. ↑ Schümann (2007), chapter "The magic of outdoor venues"
  3. ↑ Weser-Kurier , December 5, 2008: "Theater technology: renewal in three acts"
  4. ↑ weser-kurier.de
  5. ↑ land-der-ideen.de ( Memento from March 4, 2016 in the Internet Archive )