Wallgraben-Theater, Community theater in Rathausgasse, Freiburg im Breisgau, Germany.
Wallgraben-Theater presents six main productions annually along with guest performances and literary readings held on Sunday afternoons. The interior is simply furnished with seating for roughly 80 to 100 people positioned close to the stage.
A group of theatre-loving students founded the Kleines Theater am Wallgraben and gave its first performance on 16 June 1953, Christopher Fry's A Sleep of Prisoners, in a converted wine and air-raid cellar on Wallstraße. Damp damaged equipment and costumes, so on 11 April 1973 the company moved into the vaulted cellar beneath the Neues Rathaus at Rathausgasse 5a. Ingeborg Steiert (1933–1997) and actor Heinz Meier led it for decades; in 1975 it was the first stage to perform Loriot sketches.
The theatre's name refers to its first venue, a converted wine and air-raid cellar in a courtyard off Wallstraße, not to a canal. In 1975 it was the first stage to adapt Loriot's television sketches for live performance, a link to actor Heinz Meier, who co-directed for decades.
The theater sits in the old town and is easy to walk to, with parking nearby for those driving. The box office has limited hours, so booking online ahead of time or checking the current program in advance is practical.
Since 2004 the company has staged one production each summer in the inner courtyard of the New Town Hall, with 250 seats. In 1975 it was the first stage to adapt Loriot's television sketches for a live audience. From October 2020 to July 2021, during the COVID-19 pandemic, it performed in the empty Autohaus Südwest on the Haid.
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