Tyrolean State Theatre


The Tyrolean State Theatre in Innsbruck is the state theatre in Innsbruck, Austria, located near the historic Altstadt section of the city. The theatre is surrounded by Imperial Hofburg, the Hofgarten, and SOWI Faculty of the University of Innsbruck. The main theatre has about 800 seats and the studio theatre in the basement has around 250. Plays, operas, operettas, musicals and dance theatre are performed at the theatre.

History

In 1629, architect Christopher Gump the Younger converted one of the houses along a raceway from the Imperial Hofburg into a Comedihaus, the great theater of the Archduke Leopold. In 1654, a new theatre was built by Christopher Gump which opened on the other side of the raceway where the Landestheater stands today. This court theater was renovated in 1765. Following the Bavarian occupation in 1805, the theatre was called the Royal Bavarian Court National Theatre. In 1844, the theatre was closed due to disrepair.
In the 1840s, a theater company was constituted and donations were raised. The existing theatre building was opened in 1846. In 1945, the city theatre was renamed the Tiroler Landestheater. In 1959, the studio theatre in the basement was opened. The Tyrolean Provincial Theatre or main theatre was closed in 1961 and rebuilt in the following years and significantly expanded. In 1967, the main theatre was reopened. In 1991 and 1992, the theatre was renovated and converted into a flexible space theater.
In 2003, the new rehearsal stage was designed by the architect Karl Probst of Munich and completed as an extension to the main theatre. The Landestheater, with its three venues, meets the requirements of a modern stage operation and ensures that ambitious stage productions will take place in Innsbruck. As a final construction, the façade of the Landestheater was renovated and a new forecourt was added.

Premieres