Theater on Washingtonallee

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The former "Theater in Washingtonallee" (photo from 2013)

The theater in Washingtonallee was a private theater in Hamburg-Horn with 40 seats in the auditorium, which was founded by Bochum actress Angelika Landwehr on September 17, 1999 and has been in operation since then. The theater ended its operations in July 2014 after state funding had ceased in the previous season . The venue was taken over by the " Theater das Zimmer " and has been used as a stage since October 3, 2014 under the new name .

Venue

The area behind the theater (the building by the garbage cans ) was used as an open-air play area (photo from 2018)

The 50 m² right half of a one-room annex of the listed housing estate in Washingtonallee 42 / 42a in the Hamburg district of Horn, which was designed in 1936/1937 by the architect Hans Stockhauser and - at that time without structural separation, was divided into two halves - served as the venue - Was a grocery store until the end of World War II . Stock home had this shop in addition to the 1930/1931, designed by Ernst H. Dorendorf errichtetem dairy shop in the Auer number 7, which is used as a home today than building complex planned for the local supply of the population in Hamburg-Horn.

The building is within walking distance (approx. 550 meters) from the “Horner Rennbahn” underground station . The "Hasencleverstraße" bus stop, which was newly established in 2008 in the context of a line change by the Hamburger Verkehrsverbund, is 25 meters from the building.

When entering the theater, it was five steps down into a small vestibule that served as a bar for the time before and after the performances.

The actual auditorium of the “Theater in Washingtonallee” consisted of a black painted room without a conventional stage. The actors often acted in the middle of the room, while the audience sat in a circle on a maximum of 40 chairs. When the operator changed in 2014, a renovation took place in which, among other things, a traditional stage was installed on one side of the room.

For open-air performances that was community green space used behind the theater in the rear area between the houses Washingtonallee 42 and 43 and Von Elm Lane 8 and 9; Back then it was still an open area without delimitation by a hunter's fence and bushes . Access for the audience was from Von-Elm-Stieg, a narrow footpath that runs between the apartment blocks and connects Washingtonallee with Von-Elm-Weg.

Repertoire and reception

The repertoire of the cabaret consisted primarily of traditional pieces such as Who is Afraid of Virginia Woolf? by Edward Albee or A Midsummer Night's Dream by William Shakespeare as an open air performance.

In addition to one-person performances, including six solo performances by Angelika Landwehr herself, up to seven actors were on stage. In the "Theater in der Washingtonallee", in-house productions such as Marx in Horn or Frida Kahlo - Viva La Vida were presented. There were also more than 400 guest performances, mainly by young artists.

The performances in the "Theater in der Washingtonallee" were judged differently.

The online criticism site www.kulturmea.de wrote about "Frida Kahlo":

“Frida Kahlo in a room theater - more intensity is hard to imagine! ... Angelika Landwehr's strong authenticity brought the famous Mexican painter back to life for around an hour. Again, it was precisely the lack of distance in room theater that took your breath away and left the actress hanging on the lips, because theater can hardly be more intense and intimate. When Frida Kahlo reports without self-pity, but with an understandable portion of bitterness of the many terrible strokes of fate in her life, of which one would have broken almost everyone, then it hardly keeps you in the chair, then you want to jump up and into her take your arms. "

A criticism from the online theater magazine "Godot" read:

"Emancipation in Troy ... Angelika Landwehr shows a woman who emancipates, disciplines, disguises herself, who struggles for her independence and of course loves. She shares a lifelong love with Aeneas, Troy's only hero who survived the war. An impressive performance by the director of the small theater on Washingtonallee, who does a lot herself in her productions. In “Kassandra” almost everything. Is it good. "

But there were also critical voices: The "Film-Theater-Spektakel" 24 hours in HaKa , an in-house production for the Hamburger Kammerspiele in Besenbinderhof in 1925 under the direction of the couple Erich Ziegel and Mirjam Horwitz and portrayed by Angelika Landwehr, received in the international print edition of Die Welt a devastating criticism:

“[…] In front of the screen, on which home cinema-style video films are played, which only those who have participated find funny when viewed, she [Angelika Landwehr] poses live, sighs 'Oh Erich', smiles mildly ecstatic, has the most fake tones and gestures at hand, as a thoroughly artificial art object. That went wrong. While she gives the high, also suffering sophistication in front of the screen, scenes play out there in annoying excess length that, among others, pretend to do with canteen conversations and rehearsals by 'Esther and Anja', 'Candida' and 'Liebe' to have. This is pure amateurism and if you have no idea what the Kammerspiele meant back then and what the sexual and theatrical relationships of those involved were, you won't get any smarter here. There are excellent books that tell about it. One should read it instead of enduring this piece. "

The "Hamburger Abendblatt", on the other hand, described Angelika Landwehr as "extraordinarily changeable":

"The actress and director Angelika Landwehr, who started at the Ruhrfestspiele in Recklinghausen and played at many international festivals in her" traveling years ", has been on stage for 20 years. Whether as a fallen angel, Virginia Woolf, Sappho, Queen, lovers , Vagantin, as a living poem in "Marina Tsvetaeva" or as Frida Kahlo in "Viva la Vida" - she has been described by critics as an extraordinarily versatile and wonderfully headstrong actress. *


In the 15 years of existence of the “Theater in der Washingtonallee” 55 productions were performed.

financing

The "Theater in the Washington Avenue" was organized by the Cultural Department of the Hamburg Senate to the 2012/2013 season funded in the amount of 28,500 euros for the 2011/2012 season, 30,000 euros for the 2012/2013 season and 12,750 euros for the season 2013 / 2014. The transparency portal of the tax authorities , through which all government grants of the state of Hamburg are publicly reported, also shows a "subsidy for the operating funds to maintain the theater in Washingtonallee" as insufficient financing for the months of September to December 2013 in the amount of 8,000 euros as non-repayable Affection.

Landwehr stated in interviews that she received 2,000 euros a month as a donation; In addition, shortly before the theater was closed and with regard to possible successors, she stated that the operator would need around 3000 euros per month to run the theater and make a living.

An average of 12 to 20 people visited the theater per game day. The requirements for financial support from the budget of the cultural authority stipulated that “the load must be at least half the capacity of the auditorium”, in this case at least 20 tickets sold per performance. In an interview, Landwehr commented on this fact with the words that a “ bean counter ” in the authority had found that sometimes fewer than 20 spectators attended a performance and added: “[…] The 50 percent clause must fall. Indoor theater also play for ten spectators. The principle must be: Quality instead of quantity! "

literature

  • Daniel Tilgner (Ed.): Hamburg from Altona to Zollenspieker. The Haspa manual for all districts of the Hanseatic city. Hoffmann and Campe, Hamburg 2002, ISBN 3-455-11333-8 , p. 539 (section “Theater in der Washingtonallee”).
  • Deutscher Bühnenverein (ed.): German stage yearbook . Theater history year and address book. 2003/2004 season. Berlin, FA Günther & Sohn, 2004, p. 539.

Web links

Commons : Washingtonallee 42a / 42 in Hamburg-Horn  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b c d e Martin Jenssen: Bye, Washingtonallee! The boss of Hamburg's smallest theater is drawn to Greece. Hamburger Wochenblatt, Billstedter edition, dated May 7, 2014, accessed on August 21, 2017.
  2. ^ A b c Nele-Marie Brüdgam / Rolf Hosfeld: Kulturverführer Hamburg . Hamburg, Metz, 4th edition, 2005, ISBN 978-3937742106 , p. 28.
  3. ↑ a b Small written question "Hamburg's Off-Theater - Numbers, Data, Facts" and answer from the Senate (printed matter 20/13809) of December 9, 2014.
  4. ↑ Free and Hanseatic City of Hamburg, Culture Authority: List of monuments in accordance with Section 6 (1) Hamburg Monument Protection Act of April 5, 2013. HmbGVBl p. 142; As of April 18, 2016; ID 13073 and 13074, page 4848.
  5. ↑ Free and Hanseatic City of Hamburg, Culture Authority: List of monuments in accordance with Section 6 (1) Hamburg Monument Protection Act of April 5, 2013. HmbGVBl p. 142; As of April 18, 2016; ID 14252.
  6. ↑ Article "The new routes: The development of the Hafencity is progressing steadily, at the same time the HVV is adjusting its bus offer" in the Hamburger Abendblatt of November 18, 2008, accessed on February 10, 2018.
  7. ↑ a b c d Angelika Landwehr leaves the theater on Washingtonallee . Hamburger Abendblatt , May 22, 2014, accessed on August 21, 2017.
  8. ↑ Frida Kahlo in a room theater - more intensity is hard to imagine! Retrieved on August 13, 2020 (German).
  9. ↑ Emancipation in Troy. In: Godot - The Hamburg theater magazine. April 19, 2012, accessed on August 13, 2020 (German).
  10. ↑ Unsuccessful piece on the beginnings of the Kammerspiele . In: Die Welt , October 13, 2008, accessed on August 21, 2017.
  11. ↑ Hamburger Abendblatt- Hamburg: Very changeable on stage. January 18, 2006, accessed on August 31, 2020 (German).
  12. ↑ Tax authority of the Free and Hanseatic City of Hamburg (transparency portal): Title 18916, listing of all grant transactions (status: 4th quarter 2015)

Coordinates: 53 ° 32 '58.9 "  N , 10 ° 5' 21.8"  E