Gothenburg City Theatre (Swedish: Göteborgs stadsteater) opened in 1934 at Götaplatsen square in Gothenburg, Sweden. The theatre was designed by Swedish architect Carl Bergsten who gave the exterior a Neo-Classical look with a touch of Streamline Moderne. The critics thought it to be a too old-fashioned building – the International Style had had a big breakthrough some years before at the 1930 Stockholm Exhibition. But the interiors of the building pleased the reviewers who thought the auditorium to be "intimate" and “democratic”.[1] The theatre went through a major renovation some years ago and the auditorium was equipped with new technology and with new seats.
The big stage has a capacity of 600 people; there is also a smaller stage called the Studio.
Many of Sweden's big theatre profiles have passed the gates of the theatre: Gösta Ekman (senior) and Ingmar Bergman, just to mention two of them. And during the Second World War Torsten Hammarén made the theatre famous for its anti-Nazi productions.[2] The current leader of the theatre is Anna Takanen and before that it was run by Bosnian-Swedish director Jasenko Selimovic, who during a ten-year period managed to please both audience and theatre critics.
Notes
- ↑ Guide till Sveriges arkitektur, by Waern, Caldenby (2001)
- ↑ Info on the theatre's homepage Archived 2007-03-23 at the Wayback Machine