1902

»Twee Kisten Rum«

The Richard-Ohnsorg-Theater was domiciled in the Kaisergalerie for 75 years. This popular local institution performed plays in northern German dialect in this small venue.
In 1902, the »Dramatische Gesellschaft« was founded by scholar, actor and director Dr. Richard Ohnsorg. Initially using amateur actors, the drama society included plays in local dialect in its programme and took to the stage at varying venues. From 1914 onwards, the troupe exclusively performed in local dialect and was renamed »Niederdeutsche Bühne/Hamburg« in 1920.

It was only in 1936 that the Niederdeutsche Bühne was able to install itself permanently at Grosse Bleichen 23/27 and hire professional actors. When the Nazis came to power in 1933, Ohnsorg feared that they might shut down his theatre and asked several high-profile theatre personalities for their public support.
In 1944 the theatre had to be closed and housed a fodder packaging facility until April 1945. Following the re-opening after the war, the theatre was officially run as the »Richard-Ohnsorg-Theater«.

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The 1950s saw the theatre gain nationwide popularity particularly on account of lead actress Heidi Kabel and lead actor Henry Vahl. Performances were regularly broadcast on regional and nationwide
TV. The theatre won a number of TV awards, including in 1958 for »Twee Kisten Rum« (»Two cases of rum«). Originally all Ohnsorg plays were set in northern Germany but this policy was changed in 2002, when the theatre started performing plays set elsewhere which were merely rewritten in the northern German dialect. In 2011 the theatre’s era in Kaisergalerie ended when it relocated to Hachmann-Platz.