Schauspiel Köln

With “We are not the good ones.” as one of 96 formulated theses, Schauspiel Köln invites you to experience theatre beyond an institution of mere pleasing. Form your own judgement, experience contradictions, turn against moral superiority – in short: stay critical.  

The fact that this gives you pleasure is expressly part of the concept. As is the uncomfortable. And perhaps the change of perspective. This is roughly what is stated in the currently 96 theses of the house, or rather proclaimed prompts for conversation, the number of which can change again and again. Depending on what is currently happening in the world. And so Schauspiel Köln is also more than the sum of its stages – currently under the artistic directorship of Kay Voges.  

From the municipal theatre to the factory hall and back to Offenbachplatz

Many times over the past roughly 250 years, Schauspiel Köln has changed house and stage. From 1782 onwards, its stations included a permanent theatre building in today’s Komödienstraße, the municipal theatre on Glockengasse, the auditorium of the university, a hall in the former Rautenstrauch-Joest Museum, the opera house, the Schlosserei, Halle Kalk, the Depot in Mülheim, and so on and so forth.  

For the 2026/2027 season, Schauspiel Köln returned to the house where, among others, Klausjürgen Wussow already played Karl Moor in Schiller’s “The Robbers” in 1962: to the stage ensemble on Offenbachplatz, designed by Cologne architect Wilhelm Riphahn, who also designed the expressionist Bastei on the Rhine as well as “Die Brücke”, where the Kölnischer Kunstverein has found its place of activity today.  

Post-war modernism with new stage technology

The listed architectural ensemble from 1957/1962, a symbol of cultural renewal after the war, today includes, alongside the Schauspielhaus, the stages of Oper Köln, the children’s opera and the Kleine Haus in the former Opernterrassen.  

In any case, take a look at the refreshment room, which brings the 1960s to life with a backlit glass-block wall and pendant lights designed by Wilhelm Riphahn. Behind the historic design lies modern theatre technology. For example, the front audience area can be lowered in order to extend the stage into the auditorium. The Kleine Haus also opens up diverse possibilities for productions with its lowerable performance area.  

Schauspiel Köln: highly idiosyncratic

Artistically, Schauspiel Köln has repeatedly been a place for distinctive signatures. Robert Wilson and Heiner Müller developed the Cologne part of the international theatre project “the CIVIL warS” here, which premiered at the house in 1984. In 2010, Karin Beier showed with Elfriede Jelinek’s “Das Werk/Im Bus/Ein Sturz” how directly theatre can address a city by taking up the collapse of the Cologne City Archive. With Katie Mitchell’s “Reise durch die Nacht”, a production by Schauspiel Köln was presented as a guest performance at the Festival d’Avignon in 2013. Acting and live-generated film images combined to create an unusual stage language. For his direction of “Johann Holtrop”, a co-production between Schauspiel Köln and Düsseldorfer Schauspielhaus, artistic director Stefan Bachmann received the German theatre prize DER FAUST in 2023.  

Under Kay Voges, too, the house and its ensemble are already gaining supra-regional recognition: in the critics’ survey by “Theater heute”, it came second in 2026, together with the Berliner Ensemble and the Maxim Gorki Theater, in the category “Theatre of the Year”.  

What and how is reality?

With Kay Voges, a modern technological wind is blowing across the boards that mean the world at Schauspiel Köln: as founding director of the Academy for Theatre and Digitality, he deals with the artistic possibilities opened up by new technologies. Film, digital images and acting often interlock in his work, also making our view of reality a subject.  

Another focus is the collaboration with investigative editorial teams such as CORRECTIV and DOSSIER. Under the title “Theatre & Journalism”, research forms the starting point for stage productions. Social conflicts are given voices, bodies and situations. This once again shows the house’s self-image, which seeks to bring together art and public debate for you and other audience members.