Scheinbar

The Scheinbar is a small theatre in Berlin’s Schöneberg district on Monumentenstraße. It calls itself Germany’s smallest variety stage. The room is just four metres wide and three metres deep.

The theatre opened in 1984 when students from the Berliner Artistenschule Etage built the stage themselves. Der Spiegel once called it a ‘laboratory of new circus art’ and an ‘avant-garde variety stage’. Much of the programme still comes from open-stage evenings run by a weekly host.

Visitors see short, changing shows on a tiny platform. Established performers try out new material there, while newcomers like Mario Barth and Eckart von Hirschhausen once took their first steps. Poetry slams and cabaret nights also fill the calendar, with regulars such as Sebastian Krämer.