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Landestheater Niederösterreich

Coordinates: 48°12′20″N 15°37′20″E / 48.205614°N 15.622262°E / 48.205614; 15.622262
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Landestheater Niederösterreich

The Landestheater Niederösterreich is a Schauspielhaus in the Lower Austrian provincial capital St. Pölten.

History

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In the autumn of 1820, a military prison converted by master builder Josef Schwerdtfeger on today's Rathausplatz was opened as the first permanent theatre in St. Pölten, which also served as a ballroom. The first tenant was the theatre entrepreneur Leopold Hoch, who was followed by others. The theatre is mentioned in a guidebook from the Biedermeier period, the work Wien's Umgebungen auf zwanzig Stunden im Umkreise [de] by Adolf Schmidl [de] from 1835:

The newly built theatre is large enough for the city, may not be unfriendly with its half dozen boxes and its gallery, if it were better illuminated.[1]

After a closure for financial reasons in the 1847/1848 season, the theatre was sold to the city and thus became a municipal theatre. After the Ringtheater fire in 1881, the house was closed as a theatre due to lack of fire safety and from then on was only used as a ballroom. In 1893, the building was completely rebuilt according to plans by Heinrich Wohlmeyer [de]; only the outer walls of the old theatre remained. When the theatre reopened, it had an enlarged stage, an enlarged orchestra room and a total of 500 seats.[2]

In the 1927/28 season, the theatre remained closed and was subsequently merged with the theatres in Baden, Krems and Bruck an der Leitha to form the Städtebundtheater. After its closure in 1931, it was reopened in 1933, but from 1935 to 1938 it was only a Bespieltheater. During the Second World War, the building was used as SS quarters and storage space and was eventually damaged by bombs, with the roof being destroyed. In 1948, the theatre was able to reopen and resumed acting and musical theatre operations, but in the early days it still had no roof and was thus involuntarily open-air theatre.

Between 1966 and 1969, the theatre was again extensively rebuilt and extended according to plans by Paul Pfaffenbichler [de], which reduced the capacity of the auditorium to 411 seats. However, with the theatre on the rehearsal stage (from 1975 "Studio der Zeit"), the theatre had a second venue until its closure in 1986. In 1996, the theatre was renovated and in 2002 a second venue with 120 seats was added with the Theatre Workshop.

From the 1990s the stage was called Theatre of the Provincial Capital St. Pölten - Theatre for Lower Austria. The theatre in its present form has existed since the 2005/06 season. Since then, the theatre, which has now been taken over by the province, has been called Landestheater Niederösterreich, which, as a single-sector theatre, defines itself only by its spoken theatre. The foyer of the main theatre and the theatre café were redesigned in summer 2012 as modern components in the historical ambience of the theatre building.[2]

Honours

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Directors

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(from 1975)[2]

  • 1975–1991: Herwig Lenau, Intendant (1969-1972 already head of the theatre and vice-director)
  • 1991-2002: Peter Wolsdorff, artistic director
  • 2002-2005: Reinhard Hauser, artistic director
  • 2005-2012: Isabella Suppanz, artistic director
  • 2012-2016: Bettina Hering, artistic director
  • Since 2016/17: Marie Rötzer, artistic director[4]

References

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  1. ^ Adolf Schmidl: Wien's Umgebungen auf zwanzig Stunden im Umkreise. After his own wanderings described by Adolf Schmidl. Printed and published by Carl Gerold, Vienna 1835, pp. 313–314.
  2. ^ a b c "Geschichte".
  3. ^ Oberösterreichische Nachrichten: Gräfner and Dimic are the best young mimes. Article dated 7 November 2016, retrieved 4 August 2021.
  4. ^ Marie Rötzer leitet ab 2016 das Landestheater Niederösterreich. derstandard.at, 11 June 2015, retrieved 4 August 2021.

Further reading

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  • Alfred Dier: Die Geschichte des Stadttheaters von St. Pölten von 1975 bis 1991. Diplomarbeit, University of Vienna 1993 (verfügbar im Österreichischen Theatermuseum Wien)
  • Alois Haider [de]: Die Geschichte des Stadttheaters St. Pölten von 1820 bis 1975. Dissertation, University of Vienna 1978 (verfügbar im Österreichischen Theatermuseum Wien)
  • Dagmar Truxa: „A so a Theater!!“ Schauspieler-Geschichten aus der Provinz. Böhlau, Vienna among others 2008, ISBN 978-3-205-78179-0 (zur Geschichte 1975–1991)
  • Thomas Karl among others: Die Kunstdenkmäler der Stadt St. Pölten und ihrer eingemeindeten Ortschaften. Berger, Horn 1999, ISBN 3-85028-310-0 (Österreichische Kunsttopographie 54). Chapter: Theater der Landeshauptstadt St. Pölten – Theater für Niederösterreich, pp. 207–209
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48°12′20″N 15°37′20″E / 48.205614°N 15.622262°E / 48.205614; 15.622262