Grips-Theater

The Grips-Theatre stands in Berlin’s Hansaviertel, a modernist housing area built for the 1957 International Architecture Exhibition. The theatre occupies a building designed by Ernst Zinsser and Hansrudi Plarre, once home to the Bellevue cinema. Its stage sits at floor level, surrounded by benches so the audience can sit on three sides. The entrance features a mosaic by Rainer Hachfeld, and the U-Bahn station Hansaplatz gives easy access. The building holds between 360 and 400 people. The theatre opened in 1974 after moving from Kurfürstendamm, where it had been known as Forum Theatre. Volker Ludwig led the troupe for nearly forty years and wrote early sociocritical plays such as Stokkerlok und Millipilli. That work won the Brother Grimm Award in 1969 and toured widely, staged more than 1,500 times in forty languages. Plays like Linie 1 and Café Mitte became classics, performed by theatres across Germany and abroad. Visitors find a stage without a raised platform, so the first row sits level with the actors. The auditorium can be arranged with the audience on all four sides, though one side usually serves as backdrop. The entrance mosaic shows caricatures by Hachfeld, and the building links directly to the U-Bahn station. Inside, the theatre keeps the original spirit of dialogue with young spectators, using their feedback to shape new productions.