Volkstheater
The Volkstheater was founded around 1889 after Viennese citizens such as dramatist Ludwig Anzengrube and craftsman Thonet requested the theater built to offer a popular site aside from the Baroque court theater, Hofburgtheater. As such, it became widely known as “Vienna People’s Theatre” or “Viennese Popular Theatre”. Located in the seventh district of Vienna, Neubau, the Volkstheater was built using the designs of Hermann Helmer and Ferdinand Fellner, who planned to reconcile the structure with historicism.
The founders of Volkstheater had a “theatrical stage” in mind, as they wanted to expose more Viennese citizens to both classical and modern literature by producing plays that are more traditional. Until today, the Volkstheater follows this tradition, staging new productions of the classics with the regular schedule along with reinterpretations, reruns and new works by Johann Nestroy, Ferdinand Raimund. The theater focuses on Austrian playwrights, both old and new.
At the beginning of industrialization in the late 19th century, the socio-economic changes that affected Vienna’s population structure caused the theater to switch from popular plays to Operetta. The revival of popular plays also appeared with the names P. Turrini, W. Bauer, O.von Horvath and L. Anzengruber.
In 2005, with the start of Michael Schottenberg’s position as the theater’s art director, Volkstheater built an alternative theater called “Volkstheater Hundstrum” in the fifth district of Vienna, Magareten, wherein experimental theater is produced.
