Wallgraben-Theater

The Wallgraben-Theater is a private cellar theatre in Freiburg im Breisgau, southwest Germany. It began in 1953 as a student group performing in a converted wine cellar and fallout shelter. In 1973 it moved to vaulted basement rooms beneath the New Town Hall. The entrance is reached by a flight of 28 steps from the street. The theatre seats between sixty and a hundred people on wooden benches. The company is one of the oldest independent theatre ensembles in the region. It was led for decades by artistic director Ingeborg Steiert and comedian Heinz Meier. In 1975 Meier staged the first stage adaptation of Loriot’s television sketches at the venue. Since 2003 Regine Effinger has managed the theatre, joined in 2008 by her husband, actor Hans Poeschl. The programme features contemporary dramas, classic comedies, satire and literary readings. In summer the company stages plays in the open-air courtyard of the Town Hall. The theatre lies close to the Freiburg Minster and forms part of the cultural life of the Black Forest region.