Viktoriatheater (Magdeburg)
The Viktoriatheater was a theater in the Werder district of Magdeburg . It was located on the southern side of today's Lingnerstrasse at the corner of Mittelstrasse and existed from 1860 to 1930.
history
The inauguration of the theater took place on May 16, 1860 with the play "One Night in Berlin".
Building and plant
Otto Nowack , director of the municipal theater, had the theater built at his own expense in the Werder district on an island in the Elbe . The building had 1,200 seats and a large linden tree garden with a Neptune fountain, a goldfish pond with a fountain, a beer bar and a cake stand. The statue of a muse with a lyre was particularly noteworthy . The Viktoriarestaurant was in the immediate vicinity . The wooden theater building was not heatable, so it was not used all year round. It also turned out to be not entirely waterproof.
repertoire
Artistically, comedy games and antics were mainly performed, in keeping with the character of the house . In the beginning, the house enjoyed a great deal of public demand because of this and its beautiful location with a garden. In the beginning, a sold-out house was the norm. The rather shallow and probably not particularly qualitatively strong performances met with criticism. In the Allgemeine Theater-Chronik 1862 it is said, probably also referring to the Viktoriatheater: "The theater in Magdeburg is sinking more and more." In 1863, the Upper Presidium of the Province of Saxony even threatened Nowack with a withdrawal of his license to play if he continued to put financial interests before educational interests.
Nowack responded to later waning public interest by performing heavily abridged classical pieces by Schiller and Shakespeare . The performances were often performed by foreign actors traveling.
At the end of 1869, Nowack, who was moving to Berlin, leased the Viktoriatheater to a Mr. Senst. Nowack returned as early as 1873 and ran the theater until his death in 1883. His successor was then the previous director, Sacha Hänseler . The building was then owned by the merchant Theodor Ofschenfzig from 1887 to 1916 .
In the summer months the theater had its own orchestra and choir, each with 25 members.
Connection with the city theater
In the summer of 1917 the director of the Magdeburg City Theater , Heinrich Vogeler , leased the already slightly dilapidated Viktoriatheater for his own account. With the availability of a second venue, he wanted to achieve synergy effects, which he succeeded. The Schwank literature was indeed dominant on the Victoria Theater, but there were also pieces from the repertoire of urban stage, at reasonable prices, to the performance. Pieces such as Nora , Kabale und Liebe , Sudermanns Heimat , Hauptmanns Beaverfur and Björnsons Geographie und Liebe were performed.
Vogeler's plan to enable playability in winter by installing heating could not be implemented. The city of Magdeburg then entered into the lease contract through changes in the structure of the city theaters. Vogeler received a settlement of 20,000 marks as compensation for the waiver of his rights.
The city finally acquired the building in 1924. However, it was closed as early as 1925. There was a plan to renovate the theater and to reopen it on the occasion of the German Theater Exhibition in Magdeburg in 1927 . However, the plan was not implemented. In 1930 the theater building was demolished for security reasons. The Viktoriagaststätte building initially continued to exist and was used as a school, then as a residential building, and finally as a day care center. However, this house was also demolished in the early 1970s.
Todays situation
The original location of the theater is now only loosely built. Direct references to the former Viktoriatheater can no longer be found on site. A small green area with a playground nearby is still called Viktoriapark . Even today, however, there is again a private theater in Magdeburg-Werder, the Theater an der Angel .
Literature / source
- Nadja Gröschner, Frank Kornfeld, Magdeburg-Ostelbien as it used to be , Gudensberg-Gleichen 2003, ISBN 3-8313-1395-4
- Friedemann Krusche, Theater in Magdeburg , 1st volume, Halle (Saale) 1994, ISBN 3-354-00835-0
Coordinates: 52 ° 7 ′ 54.3 ″ N , 11 ° 39 ′ 10.3 ″ E