A little history about the theater - This theater group has been producing plays and operas since 1690! It was originally commissioned by the Duke Anton Ulrich and built near the Hagenmarkt in Brausnchweig as an Opera. This building closed in 1861 due to structural failure. The current theater was constructed and opened in 1864. During WWII, parts of the theater were severely damaged, but were reconstructed, and the theater resumed productions in 1948. Now the theater is used for plays, operas, musicals, symphony concerts, and ballets.
Today, I got to tour the inside of the theater (not the technical production areas, unfortunately) and see a technical show. They had coordinated lights, fog machines, fly works, and stage manipulation to music. It was really cool to see, but kinda short. They had various performing acts outside on a temporary stage. I saw the dancers perform, mostly contemporary in style. At one point, they all did a dance combo-ed with a poetry slam type thing. There was no music, only the rhythm they made by banging on the stage and they shouted words. From what I gathered from the text, it was about finding warmth in the cold areas of your life.
I was waiting around all afternoon for the only thing that mentioned costumes in the program, thinking it would be a costume parade of elaborate opera dress. BOY WAS I WRONG! They introduced the costume manager and out came two people dresses as gorillas! Turns out it was a costume auction of all things under the theme of "Braunschweig" Don't ask - I still have no idea what the gorillas had to do with it. There was also a girl in a soccer ball dress and another girl who was the line ref????
I am really looking forward to seeing some shows there. Most of all Three Penny Opera, Carmen, and Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?
LINK: Theater Festival Pictures
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