Theater Basel

Theater Basel is the largest three-genre theater in Switzerland. It offers a broad and sophisticated program of opera , drama, and ballet in the trinational metropolitan region . Since the 2022/23 season, it has also featured Theater Public, including the Foyer Public , a public space for everyone in the heart of the theater. From the beginning of the 18th century, touring troupes in Basel used the Ballenhaus, originally built for a type of tennis, as a performance venue on the site of today's theater gymnasium. In 1834, the "Theater auf dem Blömlein," designed by Melchior Berri, opened on the opposite side of the street, replacing the dilapidated Ballenhaus. For many years, Basel's theater was not an institution with its own resident company. From the beginning of the 18th century, traveling troupes performed in the so-called Ballenhaus. This changed somewhat when the first proper theater building was constructed in 1834. But even then, there was still no question of an institutionalized performance schedule.