Theatre in Hesse

The Hesse state theatres

The Hesse states theatres in the historical residency cities Wiesbaden, Kassel and Darmstadt are of prime importance. They provide a broad range of events and attract an audience of all ages. All three state theatres are multi section houses with music plays, concerts, drama, sometimes also dance or children and youth plays. All of them are supported largely by the state of Hesse.

In the center of Hesse the interested audience can deal with drama, dance, concerts, children and youth theatre as well as musical plays at the Stadttheater Gießen and Landestheater Marburg. The Städtische Bühnen Frankfurt realise fascinating and largely discussed productions in their theatre branch; its internationally renowned opera is highly awarded and was amongst others “Opera of the year”. The former ballet at the Städtischen Bühnen which was managed by Willilam Forsythe has been founded separately as the Forsythe Company two years ago. The Forsythe Company is supported by the city of Dresden and the state of Saxony as well as the city of Frankfurt am Main and the state of Hesse.

Theatre days in Hesse

Every two years the Hessian Theatre Days take place in cooperation with the Hessian Theatre Academy, the Applied Theatre Science branch at the University of Gießen and “tanzlabor 21” – an organisation of various institutions. The festival gives a survey of the recent productions and the latest achievements on Hesse’s stages are presented at various venues. Also the independent groups, organised by the Landesverband der Freien Theater Hessen, present a selection of their productions in the supporting programme.

Nearly all big and medium cities are the home of institutions, which present their own ensembles or guests to an interested audience and which are also partly internationally acclaimed.

The Künstlerhaus Mousonturm in Frankfurt achieved a high reputation in modern dance. The Volkstheater Frankfurt gained a great popularity thanks to the former principal Liesl Christ, who played Mama Hesselbach in the homonymous TV serial. The English Theatre is Europe’s biggest foreign language theatre. The Theaterhaus Frankfurt obtains a leading position in the field of children and youth theatre, being also engaged in the organisation of “Starke Stücke” festival for this age group.

Stalburgtheater, Theater Willi Praml residing at the Naxoshalles, Gallus Theater, Interkulturelle Bühne, Internationales Theater, Die Komödie, Fritz Rémond Theater and many other houses and independent ensembles give reasons for Frankfurt’s reputation as a centre of theatre culture, that can compete on a national level also regarding sponsorship and funding. The Hochschule für Musik and Darstellende Kunst is the domicile of Hesse’s Theatre Academy, also the Landesverband der Freien Theater Hessen has its office in Frankfurt, which is the operational base for the organisation of Kaleidoskop, another Hessian children and youth theatre festival.

Darmstadt’s independent theatre scene has found a home at the Theater Moller Haus, whereas the g-werk in Marburg or the Kulturfabrik Salzmann in Kassel obtain a similar role for the off-scene, whose protagonists are frequently invited to national festivals and whose productions often make it to the stage of the big houses.

From late spring until autumn many theatre festivals in Hesse take place, presenting international renowned names in their programmes. Bad Hersfelder Festspiele, Maifestspiele in Wiesbaden, Hessische Theatertage, Wetzlarer Festspiele, but also the festivals in Heppenheim, Bad Vilbel or Bensheim-Auerbach, staging in historical environments, only indicate the broad spectrum, which the Kulturportal will report in detail in the future.

The state of Hesse offers a variety of sponsorships for the diverse theatres. First of all state theatres as well as the municipal theatre of Gießen are funded with major sums. But also numerous independent projects and productions, in particular children and youth theatre receive public funding.
Produktionen der Freien Szene und insbesondere die Kinder- und Jugendtheaterszene mit ihren Vorhaben werden aus Landesmitteln bedacht.