Theater Basel
Basel's three-division house for drama, opera and ballet, in a concrete building of 1975.
Theater Basel is the largest three-division theatre in Switzerland, running its own drama, opera and ballet companies. The present building on Theaterstrasse, a board-marked concrete design by Felix Schwarz, Rolf Gutmann and Fritz Schwarz, opened in 1975 and marked fifty years in 2025. It replaced a nineteenth-century house on Steinenberg. Richard Serra's steel sculpture Intersection stands on the square outside, and Tinguely's Fasnachtsbrunnen plays on the site of the old stage.
The company works across three stages: the Grosse Buhne for opera and large-scale productions, the Kleine Buhne for chamber pieces, and the Schauspielhaus on Steinentorstrasse for drama. A season typically brings around forty productions, a large share of them premieres, and the ballet company performs a repertoire that ranges from Kylian and Van Manen to new commissions. Work also spills out to churches and other locations around the city.
Highlights
- Three stages: Grosse Buhne, Kleine Buhne and Schauspielhaus
- Concrete building of 1975 on Theaterstrasse
- Resident opera, drama and ballet companies
- Richard Serra's Intersection on the theatre square
