Theater am Turm

Volksbildungsheim Frankfurt am Main (after the renovation)

The TAT played in the Bockenheimer Depot from 1995 to 2004

The Theater am Turm (abbreviated TAT ) was a municipal theater in Frankfurt am Main from 1956 to 2004 . It was founded in 1953 as the Rhein-Main regional theater by the Frankfurt Association for National Education . The name Theater am Turm alluded to the Eschenheimer Turm , part of the former Frankfurt city fortifications .

Venues

From 1963 to 1995, the TAT was located in the former people's education center at Eschenheimer Tor . From 1995 until its closure in 2004 it was used by the Bockenheimer Depot .

History at the Eschenheim Tower

During experimenta I , the legendary public abuse by Peter Handke premiered here in 1966 under the direction of Claus Peymann (director 1965–1969) . In the following years the TAT was shaped by its proximity to the student movement and the fight against the emergency laws. In 1969 a comprehensive participation model was introduced. The program now included not only theater performances, but also discussions, general assemblies and courses in Marxism and Tai-Chi .

In the 1970s, Rainer Werner Fassbinder was director of the TAT for eight months. The performance of his 1974 play Der Müll, die Stadt und die Tod about the Frankfurt urban warfare was canceled after protests because the figure of the rich Jew used in it served anti-Semitic stereotypes. Fassbinder left the theater.

New start in the 1980s

After a temporary closure in 1978/79, the TAT was rebuilt and reopened in 1980 with a new concept, but now without its own ensemble. Until 1986 it was a venue for free experimental groups and international artists such as Vivienne Newport's dance company , after which numerous international guest productions were created.

From 1986 onwards, more in-house productions were staged again under the dramaturgy of Tom Stromberg .

Relocation to the Bockenheimer depot

With the conversion of the Volksbildungsheim into the Metropolis cinema , the venue was relocated to the Bockenheimer Depot in 1995 , which is right next to the Bockenheimer Warte . The TAT remained a "theater on the tower".

At the same time, the TAT was incorporated into the municipal theaters as a division. It escaped closure several times in the following years. The subsidies were continuously cut, so that at the end of May 2004 operations had to be shut down for cost reasons.

Web links

• Website of the TAT in the Wayback Machine ( Memento of June 4, 2004 in the Internet Archive )
• Literature about Theater am Turm in the Hessian Bibliography
• Video documentation " SEVEN GARDENERS IN THE DESERT" - rehearsal for "Never again Penthesilea ..." at TAT in September / October 1981

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Theater: Tod des TAT: The traditional Frankfurt stage finally closes . ISSN  0174-4909 ( faz.net [accessed March 16, 2019]).

Coordinates: 50 ° 7 ′ 13.68 ″  N , 8 ° 39 ′ 3.38 ″  E