Theater on Kurfürstendamm
The Theater am Kurfürstendamm is one of the most famous private theaters in Berlin . It was together with the Komödie am Kurfürstendamm in the Ku'damm-Karree until 2018 on the Kurfürstendamm . Since September 2018, the Theater and the Comedy on Kurfürstendamm have been playing under the name Komödie am Kurfürstendamm in the Schiller Theater.
The theater and comedy on Kurfürstendamm
The Theater am Kurfürstendamm was opened on October 8, 1921 in the former rooms of the “ Berlin Secession ”, where, among other things, Impressionist art by Max Liebermann was shown. The plans for the renovation came from the theater architect Oskar Kaufmann , who also designed the Hebbeltheater , the Volksbühne on Rosa-Luxemburg-Platz , the Krolloper , the Komödie on Kurfürstendamm and the Renaissance theater in Berlin .
The opening premiere was Ingeborg by Kurt Goetz . In addition to the author, Adele Sandrock was also on stage . While the staging aroused divided opinions, the positive judgment on the architecture was unanimous. On October 9, 1921, the Berliner Tageblatt wrote : “Who did the people call at the end? The author? Maybe. The actors? Possible. The director? May be. The director? Conceivable ... They shouted with complete certainty: <Kaufmann, Kaufmann!> This is the architect. "The Berliner Allgemeine described the theater as follows:" This new, playfully charming theater hall in its colorful festivity, its very dearest, bizarre plastic craziness, a Moorish rococo, should ask the light muse to guests to serve an upscale, so to speak civilized cheerfulness. "
In 1927 Ferdinand Bruckner took over the stage and mainly showed revues. A great success was Friedrich Hollaender's With Us around the Memorial Church with Willi Schäffers and Hubert von Meyerinck . In 1928 the theater was closed due to an order from the building police. In the same year Max Reinhardt took over the stage and had the house thoroughly rebuilt by Oskar Kaufmann. Reinhardt put the theater back into operation in 1931. A short time later, the Berlin premiere of the opera Rise and Fall of the City of Mahagonny by Bertolt Brecht and Kurt Weill took place here. In 1932 Max Reinhardt retired from management, in 1933 Hans Wölffer became director of Theater and Comedy on Kurfürstendamm and remained so until 1942. During National Socialism, Wölffer had big ones - although or precisely because the theaters were very popular and because he was not a party member Difficulties, which finally led to the expropriation and nationalization of both theaters in 1942. In 1943 both theaters were badly damaged in a hail of bombs.
After the Second World War
In 1946 the houses were rebuilt. A year later the Theater am Kurfürstendamm was opened with Shakespeare's A Midsummer Night's Dream . In 1948 a cinema moved into the house for a short time.
The Free Volksbühne in the Theater am Kurfürstendamm
In 1949 the " Freie Volksbühne " took over the building as a venue. It opened with Shakespeare's Hamlet . Until the move to Schaperstrasse in 1963, directors such as Giorgio Strehler , Oscar Fritz Schuh , Erwin Piscator , Caspar Neher designed sets, played actors such as Peer Schmidt , Tilla Durieux , Wolfgang Neuss , Wolfgang Spier , Wolfgang Gruner , Wolfgang Kieling and Agnes Windeck , Cordula Trantow , Therese Giehse , Hanne Hiob and Günter Pfitzmann . Shortly before moving to Schaperstrasse in 1963, Piscator staged the world premiere of Rolf Hochhuth's “ Der Stellvertreter ”.
The Woelffer family in the theater on Kurfürstendamm
After the Freie Volksbühne moved into its own theater of the Freie Volksbühne , Hans Wölffer , who had long been director of the neighboring comedy on Kurfürstendamm, took over the management. Two years later he brought his sons Jürgen and Christian into the management. In 2004 Jürgen Wölffer handed over the management to his son Martin . He started with the aim of rejuvenating the program. With Andreas Schmidt's staging of Kristof Magnusson's men's nursery, he achieved his first success. On the stage stood by Bastian Pastewka , Christoph Maria Herbst , Michael Kessler and Jürgen Tonkel . This was followed by productions such as “Scenes from a Marriage”, “As You Like It”, “Good Against North Wind”, “Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?” Or “Fettes Schwein”, with which Martin Woelffer made his claim to make metropolitan entertainment theater, implemented.
Termination of rental agreements
The termination of the leases for theater and comedy on Kurfürstendamm at the end of 2006 by db Real Estate, a subsidiary of Deutsche Bank , prevented Woellfer's further plans. At the end of 2006 there was another change of ownership: db-Real-Estate sold the entire Ku'damm square, in which the two theaters are also located, to Fortress , a private equity fund . Fortress extended the lease of the theater to January 31, 2008 and the comedy lease to June 30, 2008. In September 2008, the Ku'damm-Karree was sold to Ballymore Properties . Although the theaters do not have a valid rental agreement, the theater continued. An application in the city's cultural committee to place the houses under monument protection was refused.
In December 2008 the Woelffer-Bühnen announced that a compromise had been found with Ballymore: The investor undertook to build a new theater with 650 seats on Kurfürstendamm. The Charlottenburg-Wilmersdorf district viewed the plans critically. The compromise also included that the Kudamm stages do not have to pay rent until further notice. Martin Woelffer was looking for a replacement venue for the time of construction work, which should begin in 2010. In September 2009, Ballymore announced that architect David Chipperfield should plan the new Komödie building on Kurfürstendamm. In January 2011 a referendum took place in Charlottenburg-Wilmersdorf for the preservation of the Kudamm stages. The referendum failed. Ballymore got into turmoil in the wake of the global financial crisis and was placed under the control of the Irish state "Bad Bank" Nama. In 2015 the company sold the Kudamm-Karree to Cells Bauwelt. Cells Bauwelt did not feel bound by the agreements that Martin Woelffer had made with Ballymore and gave notice without notice.
In May 2016, theater and comedy on Kurfürstendamm started the Change.org campaign "Save Kudamm-Bühnen!", Which was aimed at the Governing Mayor Michael Müller . At the end of May 2016, the Berlin district court negotiated an eviction action by the investor against the Kudamm-Bühnen. The decision was postponed. On October 18, 2016, theater and comedy on Kurfürstendamm were sentenced to evacuate. The stages announced that they would appeal.
Compromise with Cells Bauwelt
On February 21, 2017, Martin Woelffer announced that he was able to agree on a compromise with Cells Bauwelt. Klaus Lederer , who had recently become Senator for Culture, moderated the proceedings. The compromise provides for gaming operations on Kurfürstendamm to be maintained until mid-2018. After that, the theaters are to move into a temporary venue. The two historic theaters are demolished, and Cells Bauwelt is building a new theater with 650 seats in the basement of the courtyard on Kurfürstendamm. Martin Woelffer can sign a 30-year lease and is significantly involved in the planning of the new theater.
Relocation to the Schiller Theater
On April 5, 2017, the Berlin Senate for Culture announced that Martin Woelffer and his team would move to the Schiller Theater for a transitional period . In September the theater reopened with the premiere of Willkommen bei den Hartmanns . The transitional venue is called "Komödie am Kurfürstendamm in the Schiller Theater". The demolition work on the theater halls began in autumn 2018, and in March 2019 both historic halls were razed to the ground so that one could see through from the street to the high-rise in the Kudamm-Karre.
literature
- Dietrich Worbs: "Comedy" and "Theater am Kurfürstendamm". The legacy of Oskar Kaufmann and Max Reinhardt . Deutscher Kunstverlag, Munich 2007, ISBN 978-3-422-06694-6 .
Awards
- 2013: Monica Bleibtreu Prize in the Comedy category for the play A Summer Night at the 2nd Private Theater Days in Hamburg
Web links
Individual evidence
- ↑ Comedy on Kurfürstendamm: Comedy on Kurfürstendamm remains comedy on Kurfürstendamm - also in the Schiller Theater on Bismarckstraße. July 31, 2018, accessed November 3, 2018 .
- ↑ Isabell Jürgens: Offices instead of shopping malls: This is how the Kudamm-Karree will change in Berlin. February 1, 2019, accessed on May 6, 2019 (German).
Coordinates: 52 ° 30 ′ 7 ″ N , 13 ° 19 ′ 26 ″ E