Landestheater Detmold

Landestheater Detmold is a theatre for operas, operettas, musicals, ballets and plays in Detmold, a town in the foothills of the Teutoburg Forest in North Rhine-Westphalia. It began in 1825 as the Hochfürstliches Lippisches Hoftheater, built by the court of Lippe. The company now runs five venues across Detmold. It also tours to more than a hundred locations in Germany and neighbouring countries, making it Europe’s largest touring company. The theatre’s history includes Mozart’s La clemenza di Tito opening the original house in 1825. Christian Dietrich Grabbe and Albert Lortzing worked there in the 19th century. A fire in 1912 destroyed the building, but it was rebuilt between 1914 and 1918 with four original columns kept in the new façade. After the Second World War the British army used it as an officers’ mess until performances resumed in 1952. Visitors find five stages in Detmold. The main house seats 650, while the Kleine Bühne in Grabbe-Haus seats 80. The Hoftheater in the courtyard seats 250, the Sommertheater 350, and KASCHLUPP! is the children’s and youth stage. The company presents opera, ballet and plays, with half of its nearly 300 performances each season taking place outside Detmold.