Nicosia Municipal Theatre
The island's largest theatre, main stage of the Nicosia International Festival and of touring drama.
The Nicosia Municipal Theatre stands on Mouseiou Avenue beside the Municipal Gardens, opposite the Cyprus Museum and just outside the Venetian walls. It opened in 1967 as the first purpose-built large theatre on the island and quickly became the principal stage for Cypriot drama, hosting the Theatre Organisation of Cyprus and visiting companies from Greece and further afield. A production of Aeschylus' Agamemnon staged here in 1972 is among the performances most often recalled from its early decades.
Structural failure in 2008 forced the building to close, and it stood unused for several years before a thorough restoration returned it to service. The refurbished auditorium seats about a thousand and gained an orchestra pit, so that opera and concert programmes can be mounted alongside spoken drama. Two further spaces, a studio and an on-stage configuration seating audiences on the main stage itself, were introduced for smaller work. The theatre is the central venue of the annual Nicosia International Festival.
Highlights
- Largest auditorium in Cyprus, seating around one thousand
- Orchestra pit added in the restoration for opera and concerts
- Studio and On Stage spaces for small-scale and experimental work
- Main venue of the Nicosia International Festival each autumn
