Schaubühne am Lehniner Platz

The Schaubühne am Lehniner Platz, located in a converted 1928 Erich Mendelsohn cinema on the Kurfürstendamm, is the most internationally celebrated German theatre of the post-reunification era. Founded in 1962 as a small political theatre collective, the ensemble achieved international recognition in the 1970s under Peter Stein, whose productions—notably of Shakespeare, Chekhov, and Gorki—set new standards for the psychological depth and collective preparation of German ensemble theatre. Since 2000 the house has been led by Thomas Ostermeier, who has made the Schaubühne one of the most-travelled German theatres in the world, with productions touring to Avignon, Edinburgh, New York, and Sydney. Ostermeier's productions of Ibsen (A Doll's House, An Enemy of the People, Hedda Gabler), Shakespeare (Hamlet, Richard III), and contemporary authors have redefined what politically committed theatre can look like in the twenty-first century. The three venues (Globe, Studio, and Probebühne) allow simultaneous experimentation at different scales.