Lessing Theater

The Lessing Theatre was a theater in Berlin-Mitte on Friedrich Karl Ufer 1, the present chapel - shore. The theater was in the period from 1888 to 1945.

On behalf of the theater director Oscar Blumenthal, the builder covered the building designed by the architect Hermann von der Hude and Julius Hennicke in the short construction period of less than one year high. The building was built between October 1887 and September 1888 in the Neo-Renaissance style instead of the circus Krembser. The opening took place on September 11, 1888 Gotthold Ephraim Lessing's play " Nathan the Wise " instead.

The 900,000 Mark expensive new building took its time some attention, as it was the first significant new theater in Berlin since the Wallner Theatre from 1864. In the intervening 24 years, it was only come to renovation of old theaters and existing halls. In April 1945, a bomb attack destroyed the theater, whose ruins were demolished in the postwar years.

Location

The oblique, poorly cut site and the immediate vicinity of the city railway viaduct and the firewalls on the neighboring site provided the architects with a difficult task, since in buildings of this importance, an effective appearance was requested from a distance. The dome of the stage house conceals the firewalls of the neighboring land and the facade with portico refers sent the junction of the two roads as " square " and so reached the exemption that the architecture can be appreciated (Quotes from Handbook of Architecture, City Planning; Publisher Arnold Bergsträsser, Darmstadt 1890). The triangular remaining space to the street divided the architects from with bars and gates and designed them as garden plants. The remaining residual surface on the rear side of the theater was a wise use as a farmyard.

For the commercial success the location was well chosen. The completion of the nearby Reichstag was a further appreciation of the area expect, and the passing right by the theater horse tram made ​​the theater of distant quarters forth easily accessible.

The theater building

In the front section leading to the auditorium stairs with the associated pros and recreation areas were pooled. The importance of theater as was highlighted in the main facade of the portico, the double columns and pediment. The two built on the stairwells of rank I. halls open tower with the all-round double arcades were more likely designed for long-range effect, but also stressed the representative character of the building. The middle part made ​​of the auditorium and the rear part was determined by the kuppelbekrönte stage house, which was surrounded by the reduced by one storey ancillary buildings. This arrangement was proven, tested at many theaters this time, equivalent to a Standardbautypus. As the " strangeness " of the theaters of the time, so emphasizes the gazebo, the theater had no orchestra pit and was thus devoted exclusively to " recitirenden drama."

Retrieval and recreation areas

The audience entered the theater through one of three doors under the portico, which was provided with a protective roof for vorfahrende car. The entrance hall was 15.40 meters wide and 9.00 meters deep. The theater tickets were needed to the longitudinal axis lying in the hall the day and the evening box office. With the acquisitions, in addition to the coffers of the guest arrived at the II rank or to lying on the long wall opposite the entrance doors entrances to the floor and I rank.

After the presentation the attendees were leaving from the floor of the theater by two separate doors on the long side of the theater or through the entrance hall. For visitors to the I and the II rank specific outputs were provided in the stairwells, which allowed leaving the theater without a re- crossing the entrance hall. This separation of the streams of visitors allowed a rapid emptying of the house and was commercially of interest since making the switch, the viewer could be faster between two ideas.

The visitor dressing rooms were located on the outside of the spectator stands. As lounges during the breaks were primarily the corridors. For the more distinguished visitors of the parquet and the rank I. stood over the entrance hall, a generous, 6.80 meters high, 9.45 meters wide and 15.60 meters deep foyer. For the warmer months, there was a balcony above the portico and balconies in front of the side corridors of the I. Ranges. For visitors to the rank II two pubs were provided via the stairwells of rank I., who stood by spiral staircases with the open tower halls in conjunction and other recreational space in the warmer months set available.

The auditorium

At the request of the first director, Ernst von Possart, the basic shape and dimensions of the auditorium of the good acoustics because of Schinkel's Schauspielhaus was acquired on Gendarmenmarkt. The room had the shape of an elongated semi-circle of 18.46 meters radius. This is followed by a 5.00 meter deep proscenium followed, the narrowed from 13.90 to 11.50 meters. The auditorium had thus a maximum depth of 19.75 m. The corridors of the stalls were 1.00 m, the corridors of the I. Ranges 4.70 meters and those of the Second Rank 8.40 meters above street level. The ceiling of the hall which was only 12.10 meters above the floor of the corridor, the ceiling of the proscenium even only 7.50 meters. The theater offered a total of 1170 seats.

With the exception of the left side of the rank I., who was the royal box reserved, received any rank on either side of the proscenium each two closed boxes in room shape.

In floor along the outer wall were separated 18 lodges with 116 seats by low partitions. 17 accessible from the side rows of seats offered 350 seats next four rows with 58 second-class seats under the balcony of I. Ranges, which were accessed by a center aisle. The dimensions of the seats of 0.80 meters to 0.54 meters exceeded at the time of opening of the headquarters facilities in the Linden Opera.

The First Rank consisted mainly of boxes with a total 140 seats. The five outermost on each side reached up to the parapet, before the ten inner boxes were three rows of seats, so-called " balcony seats " inserted, which offered another 72 spectators. During the Second Rank was the space available, apart from the 28 seats in the proscenium boxes, only rows of seats with 316 seats, the rear steeply ascended to the " Olympus". The 70 standing places of the theater were in the second rank.

The value held in the forms of neo-rococo hall was dominated by the main colors of white and gold. The rear wall surfaces were kept in brown tones, and the curtains and upholstery consisted of blue velvet.

Stage house and ancillary buildings

The stage and its facilities were opened up by the ramp on the rear side of the building and the two staircases at the rear end of side wings. The side wings contained in the two lower floors of the dressing actresses and actors. The dressing rooms for the choir and the extras were in the basement. In the third floor there was the administration and in the fourth the storage space for costumes and props were housed. The space behind the stage was used in the two collapsed basements as storage for scenes, on the 3rd floor as storage for furniture and on the fourth floor as Malersaal.

The stage was with 20.00 meters wide and 18.33 m depth sufficient for six scenes. The gridiron was 18.00 feet above the stage, the stage basement 5.00 meters below the stage. The 9.80 -meter wide proscenium opening included a two-piece iron wall which was pushed apart from the center to the sides and not pulled up as the Iron Curtain.

Construction and facade

The construction consisted largely of brick and iron, and by the exclusion of more flammable materials, especially wood, a maximum fire safety should be achieved - only the stage floor was made of wood. The execution of all steps in stone and the covering of roofs and the 29.00 -meter-high dome cover of the stage house with sheet iron supplemented the extensive fire protection measures. The flat roof over the side rooms of the audience hall was made ​​of wood cement. The lighting was done by electric light.

The Lessingtheater was a stucco building, only the sculptural decoration of the exterior facade was created in sandstone. Used, the architects von der Hude and Hennicke forms of neo-renaissance for the design of the facade. For the design of the interior, they chose the more agitated forms of the late Renaissance and for the audience mentioned the Neorokoko - the construction proves itself with its stylistic diversity as a typical representative of historicism.

Theater director

• Oscar Blumenthal (1888-1897)
• Otto Neumann -Hofer (1897-1904)
• Otto Brahm (1905-1912)
• Victor Barnowsky (1913-1924)
• Alfred Rotter, Fritz Rotter (1924-1925)
• Arthur Hellmer (1925-1926)
• Saltsburg, Heinz (1926-1929)
• Collective leadership of the group of young actors (1929-1930)
• Saltsburg, Heinz (1930-1931)
• Robert Klein (1931-1932)
• Alfred Rotter, Fritz Rotter (1932-1933)
• Richard Craft (1934-1939)
• Hans Heinrich Dransmann (1939-1943)
• Paul Rose (from 1943 union with the Rose Theatre )

Premieres

Among other things, the following items had their world premieres in the Lessing Theatre:

• Gerhart Hauptmann: Before sunrise (20 October 1889)
• August Strindberg: Plays with Fire ( December 1893 )
• Arno Holz and Oskar Jerschke: Traumulus (24 September 1904)
• Arthur Schnitzler Anatol (3 December 1910 - at the same time in the Viennese popular theater)
• Gerhart Hauptmann: The rats (13 January 1911)
• Leo Birinski: Fools Dance (28 September 1912)
• Franz Werfel: The Trojan Women by Euripides (22 April 1916)
• Zuckmayer: Schinderhannes (13 October 1927)
• Zuckmayer: Katharina Knie (21 December 1928)
• Friedrich Wolf: cyanide (6 September 1929)