Theatre in Dresden

Regular performances by travelling theatre groups in Dresden are documented back into the 16th century. On occasions they also played for the Saxon court, though it was opera which dominated here.
In the 18th century, Caroline Neuber, the »mother of German theatre«, worked in Dresden.
In the first half of the 19th century, the State Theatre founded in 1814 was the determining factor in the city's theatre scene, with directors such as Ludwig Tieck and Karl Gutzkow. Further highlights in Dresden's theatre history were the performances of works by contemporary dramatists such as Ibsen, Strindberg, Wilde and Schnitzler around 1900.

After the First World War, the Alberttheater under Count von Seebach became an important venue for expressionist theatre. Literary works by Walter Hasenclever and Oskar Kokoschka, who lived in Dresden, and by Friedrich Wolff and Reinhard Goering influenced theatre all over Germany.

Dresden's theatres all lay in ruins at the end of the Second World War. Nevertheless, the first performances were put on already in July 1945, and the rebuilt Schauspielhaus theatre was opened again in 1948.

During the GDR years, dependable repertoire theatre dominated, whereby highlights were set with premieres by Peter Hacks in the 1970s and with Wolfgang Engel's 1980s productions of works by Heiner Müller.

In the period immediately prior to the 1989 revolution, the theatre brought explosive political allegories to the stage – still today legendary: »The Knights of the Round Table« by Christoph Hein.