Schauspielhaus Zurich
Zurich's main drama company, playing at the 1892 Pfauen and the converted Schiffbau halls.
The Schauspielhaus Zurich is the city's principal drama theatre. Its main house, the Pfauen on Ramistrasse, was built in 1892 as the Volkstheater am Pfauen, part of a complex that also held a beer garden and a bowling alley, and was remodelled as a dedicated playhouse in the 1920s. The auditorium seats about 750. A restrained refurbishment agreed by the city keeps the historic hall while improving sightlines, acoustics and fire safety.
During the Nazi years the Schauspielhaus was the largest free German-language stage in Europe, giving refuge to exiled actors and directors and staging world premieres of several plays by Bertolt Brecht. After 1945 it introduced new work by Max Frisch, Friedrich Durrenmatt, Carl Zuckmayer and later Botho Strauss and Yasmina Reza. Since 2000 the company has also used the Schiffbau in Zurich West, a former shipbuilding hall converted into three flexible stages seating 400, 200 and 80.
Highlights
- Pfauen auditorium of about 750 seats, dating from 1892
- Refuge stage for exiled artists in the 1930s and 1940s
- World premieres of Brecht, Frisch and Durrenmatt
- Schiffbau: three stages in a former shipbuilding hall
