Montag, 17. Januar 2011

Renaissance Theater, the art-deco corner

Berlin, Germany: Renaissancetheater (built by ...Image via Wikipedia//The Theater in a sunny day

I've been first at the Renaissance-Theater for attending a conference on human rights. I didn't have tickets, there were no more places but my luck smiled at me and found somebody nice enough to offer me one for free. And I went so excited that I didn't pay too much attention to the arhitecture. Recently, I've been there too, for another conference, but in a more relaxed German way, as I had bought the ticket two weeks in advance and entered the hall less than five minutes before it started.

But I had enough time to look around and wanted to read more about this presence very close to the Ernst Reuter (former mayor of the West Berlin between 1948-1953) Platz and Deutsche Oper. I had a look at their usual program and I am not yet tempted by any Kabarett or Comedie shows, but maybe waiting for another conference to feel more the atmosphere of the place.

The Renaissance-Theater is considered the only art-deco theater in Europe and the only still keeping the flavor of the artistic life of the city from the 1920s. The smallest among the big theatres from Berlin, it offers to the eyes of the visitor a pleasant combination between local style and art-deco pattern, by its colourful foyer and the woodintarsias of the auditorium. 

It was founded in 1922, by Theodor Tagger, a young writer originary from Vienna, considered one of the most important playwrights of the Weimarian Republic. At the beginning, the repertoire included many plays by Strindberg. The building was redesigned and rearranged in 1926-1927, by the famous architect Oskar Kaufmann, who put his architectural signature, among others, on the Hebbel Theater in Berlin, Neue Stadttheater in Vienna and Habima Theater in Tel Aviv. 

Closed during the war, it was reopened at the end of 1946, with two plays by two different playwrighters: Strindberg and Courteline. After the reunification, the theater needed to redefine its own role on the musical stage of the city and focused more on the social approaches to contemporary developments and human stories. 

At the end of writing this story, I am thinking that maybe I will buy a ticket for a play, tough.


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