Waldau Theater

The Waldau Theater in the Walle district of Bremen is a private theater with over 500 seats. Originally it was the house of the theater group "Niederdeutsche Bühne Bremen". The group was the first in Bremen to have its own house again after the Second World War and a stage that was modern for the time. Today the traditional house houses the Bremen Musical Company , which plays the theater with its own plays, but also opens the stage for third-party productions.

The first years (1928–1944)

The year 1928 can be seen as the year of birth of the Waldau Theater. That year a small group of six theater enthusiasts founded the Gröpelinger Theaterverein as a high German amateur theater . Among the founding members was the later namesake of the house: Ernst Waldau .

As early as 1930, when the theater association was now called Bremer Volksspielkunst-Gemeinschaft , the group had over 160 active members. The venue for this group was the “Gröpelingen Coffee House”. In 1931 the community moved to the larger “Café zur Post” in neighboring Walle. In the following year, the Waller Speeldeel emerged as a subgroup in the folk art community. In contrast to the main group, the Waller Speeldeel performed pieces in Low German . In 1933, High German pieces were increasingly replaced by Low German in the entire group. The theater moved again, this time to the "Café Lehmkuhl", which was also located in Walle. In 1939 the drama community was accepted into the Low German Stage Association and renamed the "Low German Stage Bremen". The plays of the Low German stage were now completely in Low German.

In 1940, another theater group from Bremen, the Hemelinger Speeldeel , joined the Low German Stage Bremen. The newly formatted group performed in all of northern Germany. Due to the quality of the plays and the tremendous popularity of the actors in the Bremen area, the Niederdeutsche Bühne Bremen achieved several engagements in the Bremen State Theater and the Schauspielhaus. In 1944 the first low point in the history of the Niederdeutscher Theater Bremen came: as part of the total mobilization of the Nazis , the closure of the theater was ordered. In the case of bombing raids on the Bremen port area, the theater's entire set of decorations was lost.

After the war (1945–1950)

During the winter of 1945/46 it became increasingly clear that the “Niederdeutsche Bühne Bremen” needed its own house again in which to perform. The construction engineer and founding member of the group, Ernst Waldau, was responsible for planning and organizing the construction. The materials for the construction of the theater were obtained from destroyed buildings. The foundation stone for the building of the Low German Theater was laid on April 4, 1946. The ensemble collected a total of over 18,000 stones for the construction of the new theater building on Waller Heerstrasse. The first stalls consisted of Dural aircraft sheets that Ernst Waldau had organized from the Focke-Achgelis company in Lemwerder .

On May 10, 1946, Captain Alex Saron issued a license to play for the theater group under the direction of Walter Ernst on behalf of the American military government . The Low German stage first appeared in schools, gyms and in the Decla Theater (a cinema). The group had great success with a play by the Oldenburg writer August Hinrichs . His play " Swienskomödi : Een Buernstück in dre Ennens" ("Pig Comedy : A Farmer's Play in Three Acts") regularly sold out venues.

In November 1947 the inauguration of the own theater of the group, now renamed Niederdeutsches Theater eV , took place with the play "De ruge Hoff" by Fritz Stavenhagen . Ernst Waldau took over the management of the theater. The venue's auditorium held 550 spectators. However, these capacities were not sufficient, so that due to the large number of audiences there were often special and late performances in addition to the daily performances. In the 1947/48 season the curtain opened for a total of 973 performances in front of over 400,000 spectators.

First renovations of the theater and great successes (1951–1960)

In the run-up to Christmas 1951, children's theater was performed for the first time in the Low German Theater , as the theater building was now called . Since then, children from all over Bremen have been looking forward to the traditional Christmas fairy tale every year.

The first extensive renovation of the building took place just seven years after the theater was opened. After the construction work was completed, the theater restaurant was opened, among other things. Shortly afterwards, the troops received their first state funding for “the preservation and promotion of Low German language and customs”, according to the official statement at the time.

In 1959 the theater went overseas at the invitation of the New York Low German People's Association . The performances in New York took place in front of sold out halls with “ Wenn de Hahn kreit ” (“When the cock crows”) by August Hinrichs , “Familienanschluss” by Karl Bunje and “Komödienspeel” (comedy play) by Hans Balzer . The tour ended with a reception by the then Vice President of the United States Richard Nixon . The in-house drama school also opened that year and a new extension created space for a modern stage and secondary stage with workshops, a painter's hall and artists' cloakrooms as well as a new side foyer.

The theater continues to grow (1961–1980)

Similar to the Ohnsorg Theater in Hamburg in 1954, television moved into the Niederdeutsche Theater Bremen in 1963. From now on there were numerous recordings of performances for the first German television . In addition to its own control room, the house also had locations for the cameras. In the course of the commitment to television there were further modifications and additions in 1966, including a modern lighting system and a rehearsal stage. The 40th anniversary of the theater was celebrated in 1968 with a big party, at which the audience favorite Ernst Waldau was awarded the Federal Cross of Merit 1st Class .

Six years after the last major renovations, the southeast wing of the building was expanded in 1972/73 to accommodate administration, technology and an advertising department. In addition, the foyer exits to the upper rooms were enlarged and the western extension was added. From 1974 on, plays for children were performed for the first time outside of the Christmas season. Astrid Lindgren's first children's play of this kind, “Rasmus and the Tramp” , premiered in May. On May 8, 1976, 20 members of the Lower German Theater in Bremen received awards from the Lower Saxony Theater Association. Five of them were honored for their 40 years of service and the remaining 15 for their 25 years of service. The extension of the left side foyer will be completed at the beginning of the 1976/77 season. In 1979 the long-time director of the theater, Ernst Waldau, resigned from his position for health reasons. His successor was Walter Ernst.

Further successes and the downfall (1981-2005)

Ernst Waldau, a founding member of the Niederdeutsche Bühne Bremen, died on April 20, 1982 at the age of 78. On his 80th birthday, the theater was renamed Ernst-Waldau-Theater in his honor in 1984 . In 1986 Walter Ernst resigned from his position as director after seven years. In his place, Ingrid Waldau-Andersen took over the management of the Ernst-Waldau-Theater. When it was entered in the commercial register in 1992, the theater's official name was: "Low German Ernst-Waldau-Theater gem.GmbH ". For the new season 1993/94 the “Saturday Star Subscription” was introduced in the theater. Two years later Michael Derda became the theater's new artistic director and manager. With his productions he set new accents in the repertoire and established the popular tabloid comedies on the open market. For the fifth anniversary of the Saturday Star subscription in 1998, Walter Giller , Johanna von Koczian , Claus Biederstaedt , Wolfgang Spier and Bill Mockridge were expected as guests.

In November of the same year there was a devastating fire on the backstage of the theater, which paralyzed the theater for almost two months. So that the children did not have to do without their Christmas fairy tale , the performance of the play Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs was relocated to exhibition hall 4.1 on the Bremer Bürgerweide during this time . Under the patronage of the Mayor of Bremen at the time , Dr. Henning Scherf made an appeal for donations to rebuild the theater. As early as the following New Year's Eve , theater could be played on the stage again.

On the occasion of the 250th anniversary of the birth of Johann Wolfgang von Goethe and the associated Goethe year 1999, the Waldau Theater performed the classic Faust in a bilingual version (High and Low German).

With The Rocky Horror Show by Richard O'Brien , a musical was on the new program for the first time the following year . The “Bremer Musical Company” was also on the stage of the Ernst Waldau Theater for the first time this year. The in-house production of the play Dreams celebrated its premiere on this stage . The audience was enthusiastic about the musical performances, but the theater faced insolvency. In cooperation with Kulturmanagement-Bremen (KMB), a redevelopment concept was developed which initially ensured the continued existence of the house. In the course of this concept, the “Boulevard Star Subscription” was created, a combination of demanding guest performance programs such as musicals and cabaret , as well as own tabloid comedies . But all the successes and public grants did not save the house from problems that ultimately led to bankruptcy: In 2004, the last curtain fell in the Waldau Theater for the time being. A short time later, the two former Waldau actors Susanne and Klaus Marth took over the management of the house under the name "Marths im Waldau". But without government subsidies, they too could not keep the theater going. In November and December 2005, the Bremen theater used the stage of the Waldau Theater to play their Christmas fairy tales.

A new beginning (2006-2011)

On January 1, 2006 the Waldau Theater building was bought by Thomas Blaeschke, the artistic director of the Bremen Musical Company founded in 1997 . With him, a new owner was found who successfully returned to the theater with his group. In addition, with the European Musical Academy (EUMAC) , he has integrated a private and state-recognized school for training in musical performers into the house. In addition to the company's musicals, the “Waldau Theater - Theater der Kulturen” also featured tabloid comedies, classics and current comedies by Low German authors. The tradition of Christmas fairy tales was also continued, now as Christmas musicals, under the new operator. From March 2006 to May 2008, Christopher Kotoucek, an actor born in Vienna, took over the management and expansion of the Waldau Theater and its artistic design.

In October 2009 Thomas Blaeschke admitted that the theater still had six-figure debts. The number of viewers is also falling again. In this respect, according to the taz, there can be no question of the risk of insolvency for the Waldau Theater finally being averted.

On June 1st, 2011 the "Waldau Theater - Theater der Kulturen non-profit GmbH" went bankrupt. The Waldau Theater building will continue to be used for cultural events.

swell

• Ingrid Waldau and Michael Kruse: My Waldau Theater. Schünemann, Bremen 2008; ISBN 978-3-7961-1915-6
• Radio Bremen Online: 60 Years Waldau Theater , [1] , August 15, 2008 (article no longer available)
• Welt Online: Sad anniversary in the Waldau Theater in Bremen , [2] , August 16, 2008
• Neue Musikzeitung Online: Bremen: Insolvent Waldau Theater has a new operator [3] , August 16, 2008

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Debt and a look ahead . taz. October 13, 2009
2. ↑ 43 stage employees lose job . Radio Bremen May 30th, 2011  ( page no longer available , search in web archives )  Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.  
3. ↑ Homepage of the Waldau Theater

Coordinates: 53 ° 6 ′ 13 ″  N , 8 ° 47 ′ 7 ″  E