Founded in 1976 by two Americans Robert Rumpf and Clifford Dean the English Theatre of Hamburg stands before you. This isn’t just any theatre. It’s the oldest professional English-language theatre in all of Germany. Imagine two Americans arriving in Hamburg in the mid-1970s. They had a dream a vision. They wanted to bring the magic of English theatre to a German-speaking audience. That dream became this theatre.
For many years the theatre moved from location to location. It finally found a permanent home in 1981. This building you see before you was once the Hammonia Bad a medicinal bathhouse. It’s been a listed building since 1971. It’s quite a transformation isn’t it? From medicinal baths to a stage for Shakespeare and modern British plays.
The theatre prides itself on its exclusively professional English actors. Many are flown directly from London. They bring a level of expertise and a distinctly British flair. Think of the accents the expressions the sheer talent. It’s a taste of London’s West End right here in Hamburg.
Paul Glaser joined as Artistic Director in 2017. He has since directed numerous productions. These include adaptations of classics like The Picture of Dorian Gray and more modern plays like The Pride. He even wrote and directed a stage adaptation of Charles Dickens’ Great Expectations. In 2023 he received the prestigious Theaterpreis Hamburg Rolf Mares award. This was for his production of The Pride. The judges celebrated the production’s message of diversity and openness.
The English Theatre of Hamburg isn’t just about the plays themselves. It’s about the exchange of cultures. It’s about fostering international communication. It brings together a German audience with actors and stories from the English-speaking world. It’s a place of shared experience a place where language and art meet. A testament to the power of theatre to connect people. So take a moment. Breathe in the atmosphere. Appreciate the legacy of this unique and important theatre.