It is said that Meiningen is not really a town with a theatre, but a theatre with a town. The traditional house in Thuringia became a pilgrimage site for artists and audiences early on.
The history of the Weimar National Theatre reads like a mirror of German history. After its founding in 1791, the director Johann Wolfgang von Goethe strove to offer the audience a dense theatre culture in almost 300 performances a year.
Just a few minutes' walk from the Kaiser Wilhelm Memorial Church in Berlin lies a quiet, green oasis. Hidden in the middle of the park-like grounds is the Haus der Berliner Festspiele, the former Freie Volksbühne Berlin.
The "Schaubühne am Halleschen Ufer" was founded in 1962 as a private theatre with a politically and socially committed programme. In 1970, Peter Stein, a group of young theatre makers and actors, joined the Schaubühne.
Dessau, was one of the centres of the German Enlightenment in the 18th century with its social, economic and educational projects. In 1938, the Dessau Theatre was opened as a Nazi prestige project, destroyed by a bomb in 1944.
The "Theater am Schiffbauerdamm", today's home of the Berliner Ensemble, was built in 1892 on boggy ground, right in the heart of the burgeoning city of Berlin.
The state capital of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern and its state theatre Schwerin lie in the midst of lake scenery. Esther Schweins reports on Schwerin's turbulent theatre history and presents the associated stage and the annual castle festival.
Although the name "Volkstheater München" suggests a long history and tradition, the theatre on Stiglmaierplatz with its 609 seats is barely 20 years old.
The Deutsches Schauspielhaus, Hamburg opened in 1900 on the initiative of wealthy citizens who wanted to build a representative theatre for spoken theatre. It served the purpose of representation, experiments took place in moderation.
The municipal theatres of Freiburg were founded in 1866 on the initiative of the municipal council. They were intended to give the population the opportunity for a lively engagement with dramatic works.
In 1953, the Theater am Turm was founded as the Landesbühne Rhein-Main. During the student unrest in the '60s, this spirit of optimism was also felt in the theatre. Conventional models were discarded and new experimental paths were sought.
Cologne - centre of two highly theatrical events: Catholicism and carnival. But Cologne has also had a municipal theatre since 1872, and important directors as Hansgünter Heyme and Jürgen Flimm have caused a sensation there.
Located in the heart of Munich's city centre, the Art Nouveau theatre offers its audience a wide range of productions, from classical to world premieres.
The Hessische Staatstheater Wiesbaden is a five-section theatre with around 600 employees. More than 20 new productions in opera, drama, ballet and diverse performances of the repertoire offer a wide range of cultural events each season.
The Oldenburg State Theatre is not easy to discover, but worth exploring. Anyone setting off for the university town in northern Germany should not be afraid of the provinces.
Trier is not only the oldest city in Germany, but also the oldest theatre location in Germany. Theatre was already being performed in the Moselle city 2000 years ago.
Cottbus, in the very east of the republic, is known to many through its football club, FC Energie Cottbus. That the city is also home to an architecturally extravagant state theatre is probably not so well known.
In the afternoon to the VfL, in the evening to the Schauspielhaus, that's the motto in Bochum. The "pearl in the district" is also home to one of the most important pearls of German theatre: the Schauspielhaus Bochum.
The Hebbel Theatre in the Kreuzberg district of Berlin, built in 1907/08, is one of the most beautiful theatres in Germany, having survived the war virtually unscathed.
The Württemberg State Theatre in Stuttgart is the largest three-part theatre in the world. Esther Schweins introduces the former Royal Court Theatre, which was built between 1909-1912 by Max Littmann as a theatre with opera and playhouse.
In the very west of NRW, just a few kilometres from the border triangle, lies Aachen, which hot springs attracted people 2000 years ago. Esther Schweins follows the footsteps of the past and shows its City Theatre, dating back to 1751.
Gutenberg, carnival and Roman finds are all associated with the Rhine city of Mainz. The imposing cathedral, shows that church history is closely linked to the city's history. Opposite the cathedral is the Mainz State Theatre.
The name Heilbronn became world-famous through a person who was never in the city: the Käthchen von Heilbronn, a literary figure of Heinrich von Kleist. Since 1844, it has had the first permanent theatre founded by citizens' initiative.
"It's just the way things are: the club goes up in the East!" For over 40 years, Dresden's "Herkuleskeule" has been commenting on political events in the GDR and after the fall of communism in the old and new federal states.
The Anklam Theatre is located in the north-eastern corner of Germany, barely 40 km from the Baltic Sea beach. Founded at the beginning of the GDR as a three-part theatre, only the drama department remains.
Constance in the three-country corner is a holiday paradise. But it does not only have Lake Constance to offer, but the oldest theatre in Germany is located here - with almost four hundred years of stage history.
A fresh wind from the north: In the 1960s, the theatre in Bremen was considered the most innovative stage in Germany. Intendant Hübner gathered a crowd of young talents, tried out new forms of theatre and revolutionized European theatre.
1938 Adolf Hitler opens the Saarland Theatre as the "Gautheater Saarpfalz". The building had been commissioned by him personally, as a "reward" for joining the German Reich, and was to serve as an "ideological Western Wall" against France.
Esther Schweins visits Würzburg, where around 200 years ago the Damenstift was converted into a theatre to enrich the tradition-rich residential city on the Main with another cultural gem.
The actor, director and crime scene commissioner Peter Sodann came to the Landestheater in Halle an der Saale as acting director in 1980, and since the acting ensemble in the old house was not working to capacity, he built a new theatre.
Esther Schweins introduces the world's oldest municipal theatre, which celebrates its 225th birthday this season and is inextricably linked with the name Schiller: Nationaltheater Mannheim
Many people first associate the name Bautzen with the former Stasi prison. But there is more to it. Over a thousand years old, sometimes called the "Nuremberg of the East", it's home to the only professional bicultural theatre in Germany.
When the Thalia Theatre was founded in 1843, it was called "Second Theatre", the Deutsches Schauspielhaus was already in the city. But founder Maurice Cherie dislikes this name and wants to commit his theatre to the muse of the comedy.
The theatre tradition in Coburg dates back to the 16th century. In 1827, Duke Ernst I founded it with its own ensemble. A courageous decision, considering that he ran it "on own account and risk" in a town which had only 8,000 inhabitants.
The Altenburg-Gera Theatre emerged in 1995 from the merger of the Gera City Theatre and Altenburg State Theatre. Since then, the joint ensemble, orchestra and management have been commuting between the cities, which are about 40 km apart.
Esther Schweins takes a look around Karlsruhe, the city of law, urban planning and research. She introduces the Baden multi-arts theatre and looks inside the Federal Constitutional Court, for which the theatre had to change its location.
It is one of the youngest major cities, a demographic idyll: Münster, the Westphalian student mecca with more than 55,000 students has always been a good place for the arts because this young, curious public is eager to experiment.
"It is then the first time since Friedrich Wilhelm II that a theatre building has not only been planned in Potsdam, but also implemented and carried through." (Uwe Eric Laufenberg)
Swabians are often ridiculed as house builders and thrifty. Wrongly so, as the Landestheater Tübingen shows, because it is precisely these qualities that the theatre owes its theatre hall to.
"I praise my Leipzig!" - Goethe exclaims and gives the city the name "Little Paris". His Mephisto lures Faust into the bustle of life in the "Auerbachs Keller" inn. Today, the lively Bach city is considered the boomtown of the East.
Great theatrical aesthetic innovations have taken place on its stage, it's the home of generations of famous actors and perhaps like no other, this house is a burning mirror of Germany's history: Deutsches Theater in Berlin.
Germany, Poland and the Czech Republic form a border triangle with an eventful history. Theatre is performed across national borders and languages - a very special theatre landscape in the easternmost corner of Germany.
