Rostock People's Theatre

The People's Theatre in Rostock is the municipal theater of the Hanseatic city of Rostock. It features the three venues Large house, the theater in the city harbor and the little comedy and covers the genres of theater, musical theater / opera, ballet and philharmonic. For children and adolescents, there is a children's theater and a theater youth club.

History

Until the 19th century, mainly led wandering actor theater groups in Rostock. The venues changed, from the medieval market square on the ball home in the 17th to Comödienhaus in the 18th century, before 1786 the old city theater was built, which was destroyed by fire in 1880. It could, however, already in 1895 a larger theater dedicated to the southeast of Steintors. This house was the end of April 1942 destroyed in the bombing of the British Royal Air Force at Rostock.

The Rostock folk theater developed under the direction of Hanns Perten Anselm (1917-1985), who was general manager from 1952, one of the most prominent stages of the GDR. Chief dramaturge from 1956 until his death in 1967, Kurt Barthel ( 1914-1967 ). Together they offered a political theater, which aimed at the interpretation of reality within the meaning of socialism. A tending to openness Schedule included both classical heritage and contemporary drama from the GDR and the Soviet Union also plays " progressive " writers from the West and Latin America. The productive collaboration excited with playwright Peter Weiss (1916-1982) special attention. The East German premiere of Weiss's play The Persecution and Assassination of Jean Paul Marat represented by the spectacle of the Asylum of Charenton under the Direction of the Marquis de Sade on March 26, 1965, marked a highlight and has also been recognized internationally.

From 1974 to the existing of Chilean political exiles drama group " Teatro Lautaro " looked at the Rostock popular theater.

Ambitious plans for a new building have been discussed since the 1970s, but never materialized. Instead, since the 1940s as a temporary venues decorated, distributed over the city buildings were gradually developed and expanded. Already for season 1942/43, the then new house was opened today called Big House in the Doberan street in the former guest and Konzerthaus Philharmonic. 1954, in a former hotel in the Eselföterstraße the little house (193 places) have been created, in 1960, the Intimate Theatre on Smooth Eel ( 67 seats ), 1965 's Theatre of processes in the former home of the Army, 1968 in Warnemünde Little Comedy (94 places). Later, the Studio 74 was at the Kunsthalle and furnished in a shack at the theater Kehrwiederspitze (soon to sample the house Philharmonic ). The Big House has been modernized in the years 1975 to 1977 and expanded to include a new entrance area and a theater café. Outdoor courts originated in the garden of the monastery of the Holy Cross and in the spa gardens, the Summer Stage at sea. The venues Small house, Intimate Theatre, Theatre for processes and Studio 74 were closed in the 1990s.

As a new venue, the theater in the city harbor was built. Plans to build a new theater were to replace the inadequate Large house not implemented ( yet again ). The Big House was modernized again with the active support of the theater club.

The theater is equipped with a complete dance theater, musical theater and drama ensemble, now playing at the Big House, the theater in the city harbor and the Little Comedy Warnemünde. An integral part of popular theater is beyond the North German Philharmonic in Rostock. The A- orchestra is the biggest orchestra the state of Mecklenburg -Vorpommern. Regularly used for concerts not only in the Big House, but also in the baroque hall and Nikolai church.

The extremely tight budget situation Rostock leads to ever -increasing demands on saving the theater, put his existence as a full four divisions Theatre in question.

Recent Developments

Was there before the political changes of 1989 by 700 employees, there are no more 350 today. The discussions on the budget of the theater and worsened in the course of the 1990s, the directors changed several times. Resulting from the tight budgetary situation of the city of Rostock budget cuts and the planned conversion of the municipal theater in a limited liability company culminated in October 2007 in an open letter to the general manager Steffen Piontek in the press, on the Lord Mayor Roland Methling with the termination Piontek responded that he with the breach of the duty of loyalty justified. The planned austerity measures saw to cut subsidies to the urban theater of 7.8 million euros in 2007 to 6.6 in 2008 and to 4.8 million euros in 2009. According Piontek this would have had the loss of a large part of the premieres of many concerts and special events almost every result for 2008 from 2009 had musical theater, ballet and the North German Philharmonic cease their activities. This means that around 100 jobs were abolished. Peter Leonard, the new director was in 2008, provided for the assumption of office the condition of obtaining a four- division house. Leonard was from 2004 to 2007 already General Music Director at the National Theatre Rostock. He gave in 2012 announced its intention not to extend his current contract beyond 2014. As the new director from 2014 Sevan Latchinian is provided.

Closure of the Great House

The poor financial situation of the Rostock theater reached a climax with the announcement in February 2011 that the central game cities, the Big House, would remain closed until at least May 2011. The basic fire safety regulations have been specified, which could not be met because of the situation .. Initial investigations revealed that the actual numbers will exceed the estimates from the town hall noticeably. The house would remain closed until at least the end of 2011 and the cost of renovation would quote a six -to seven- figure sum.

On March 26, 2011 saw more than 300,000 viewers worldwide Internet performance of Theodor Fontane's "Effi Briest " at the People's Theatre in Rostock. In addition, about 3,000 people saw the piece on large screens at public viewing events throughout Germany as well as in Brazil and Canada, said dramaturge Catherine de Vette. They judged the result as a great success. "We were really hoping for a failure ," she said. With the online staging the ensemble wanted (see above) indicate mainly on the closed house.