Berlin

Berlin. Until the actor-manager Karl Döbbelin (1727–93) brought his company to settle in Berlin in 1767, there had been no strong theatrical tradition in the city. Döbbelin's efforts to establish one resulted in the founding in 1787 of a National Theatre, led from 1796 by Iffland, Döbbelin remaining manager until 1789. After Iffland's death the great actor Ludwig Devrient led the company, making it notable for its fine productions of classical and modern plays. After Devrient's death the theatre, which had been destroyed by fire in 1817 and rebuilt in a neo-classical style, entered on a period of triviality which was to last for some 50 years.

A new phase in the theatrical life of Berlin began with the founding in 1883 of the Deutsches Theater followed in 1889 by that of the Freie Bühne. Both became noted for their productions of realistic drama. In 1905 Reinhardt took over the Deutsches Theater, and made Berlin one of the outstanding theatrical centres in Europe. The Volksbühne, founded in 1890, opened its own theatre in 1914, and in 1919 Reinhardt opened the Groβes Schauspielhaus. Between the two world wars Piscator was in Berlin as director of the Zentral Theater, moving to the Volksbühne in 1924, and to his own theatre from 1927 to 1929. After he, Jessner, Reinhardt, and many more had left Germany, the Berlin theatre again sank to a low level, though Gründgens at the Schauspielhaus and Hilpert at the Deutsches Theater maintained a classical repertory until in 1944 all surviving theatres were closed.

The return of Brecht to East Berlin, in 1949 at the Deutsches Theater and from 1954 at the Theater am Schiffbauerdamm, once again brought Berlin back into the theatrical limelight; while under Besson the Volksbühne became known for its artistically enterprising programmes. In West Berlin the Freie Volksbühne opened in 1949, and at the rebuilt Schillertheater a good selection of classical revivals was staged from 1951. Meanwhile the Schaubühne, founded in 1962, housed distinguished productions under the direction of Peter Stein from 1970 to 1985; in 1981 the company moved into a new theatre. It is to be hoped that the reunification of Germany in 1990 will lead to reciprocity and the sharing of mutual interests between the theatres of East and West Berlin.