From the ducal court to Hollywood

Where does the boss's thunderous voice come from all of a sudden? The fairies look up at the sky in confusion, where the last rain clouds are just making their way to other regions, the goblins stop teasing the visitors, and the visitors – well, they assume the director of the state theatre in Meiningen is somewhere in the hustle and bustle of the summer festival, but certainly not in the basket of a hot air balloon. Jens Neundorff von Enzberg is floating above it all. He stands up there in the basket and has to duck every time the jet of flame flares up briefly above his head. He looks out over the festively decorated English Garden, where not only 3,000 guests are waiting for the official opening of the summer festival, but also the entire theatre ensemble, dressed as characters from Shakespeare's ‘A Midsummer nights dreame’. And then he raves into the microphone and loudspeaker about the great setting, the festive atmosphere, the joy of being able to do theatre in Meiningen. So many people have come tonight to celebrate the end of the season. ‘But actually, we're not celebrating our theatre,’ he exclaims from his balloon basket. ‘Actually, we're celebrating our audience!’

Everyone is here: the ensemble, the artistic director, the court orchestra, fans and admirers

If you want to know why Meiningen in southern Thuringia is often referred to as a theatre with a town rather than a town with a theatre, you only need to look at the sobering figures: 550 performances per season, 160,000 visitors from the three-state catchment area of Thuringia, Hesse and Bavaria – that's impressive. Of course, you can also go to a performance of, for example Wagner's ‘Rheingold’, Shelley's “Frankenstein” or ‘Wir Kinder vom Bahnhof Zoo’ by Christiane F. in the coming season. But perhaps a visit to the summer festival in the English Garden is the best introduction to the world of theatre in Meiningen. Because tonight, everyone is there. And everyone is in a good mood. The artistic director. The actors. The musicians of the court orchestra. The fans. The admirers. And the connoisseurs, of course. Susanne Klapka, for example. Meiningen's city ambassador is a proven stage expert; after a tour with her, guests know more about the theatre with the city (and the city with the theatre) than Wikipedia.

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The Meiningen State Theatre from the outside, © Florian Trykowski

And yet that's not all. There's so much to tell, laughs Klapka, it's impossible to cover everything in a single tour. And there really is a lot to see. The many well-maintained classical buildings. The half-timbered houses. The castle park on the Werra river. Small shops and cafés in the pedestrian zone. The market where the people of Meiningen sit and drink wine on warm evenings – when they find the time. Because concerts and festivals take place on many weekends throughout the year, as well as cabaret days and the ‘Steam Locomotive Days’. Sometimes it's hard to decide, says Klapka. And there are also wonderful hiking opportunities around Meiningen. But you absolutely must see the baroque Elisabethenburg Palace, the former residence of the dukes. In its halls and rooms, you can still feel how the castle was not only a place of politics, but also of theatre history, she says. How a duke with a love of detail once invented modern director's theatre here. How the Meiningen ensemble toured half of Europe. How emigrants took ideas from Thuringia all over the world. How little Meiningen made big Hollywood possible.

The theatre sets were designed by the Duke himself

What? Yes, says Susanne Klapka, you could say that. It all began in 1776. At that time, the first theatre was opened at Elisabethenburg Palace; in 1829, Duke Bernhard II of Saxe-Meiningen had a theatre built. In 1866, Bernhard's son Georg II took over not only the affairs of state, but also the artistic direction of the theatre. And everything changed. ‘The man was a creative multi-talent.’ This comes from Florian Beck, director of the Theatre Museum, which is housed in the former ducal riding hall. Beck stands in the middle of Wallenstein's army camp, or rather, in the original scenery from the 1909 premiere. Like many other sets, the theatre-loving Georg II designed these himself and then had them painted by the best artists. He had the pictures attached to the theatre ceiling staggered one behind the other and experimented with lighting. The result? A depth effect that was extraordinary for its time.

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'Lager vor Pilsen': The original stage design from 1909 shows great attention to detail, © Isabela Pacini / CMR

Even today, people stand in awe of the more than 100-year-old scenery. The audience at the time must have thought that the actors were walking around in a walk-in landscape painting. And when they suddenly disappeared in one part of the scenery and reappeared in another? That was a sensation that even made the newspapers. The Duke took everything else just as seriously. The costumes. The props. Voices and volume levels. And the regular meetings with the ensemble. ‘A duke discussing things with actors! At the end of the 19th century, that must have been an unheard-of occurrence,’ believes Florian Beck. And then there was the duke's love of detail – no, obsession with detail, one might call it. ‘He had catalogues sent to him from museums depicting Roman swords, and then he had them replicated one-to-one for the stage.’

Actors with star airs and graces could leave immediately

Beck walks a few steps to a soup pot in the Wallenstein backdrop, which hangs over a fireplace. The wood is stacked so perfectly that it could probably be lit with a single match. ‘What they did here on stage was almost like cinema,’ says Beck. ‘And George II was the first director.’ They called him the ‘theatre duke’ back then – at first mockingly, later admiringly. In the years that followed, George II turned the theatre world upside down. Because the Duke of Saxe-Meiningen had political influence and, above all, sufficient financial resources, the theatre on Bernhardstraße could afford the most famous actors and the best musicians. The Duke wrote the ‘Meiningen Principles’: absolute fidelity to the original work, mass scenes orchestrated down to the smallest detail, historically accurate costumes and stage sets. Theatre should serve art and not commercial interests. And, very importantly, the director bears sole responsibility.

Even leading actors had to toe the line; anyone who displayed star airs and graces was shown the door. Later, American filmmakers would also adopt this approach. When a Hollywood director today puts a star with airs and graces in their place, they are following in the footsteps of the Duke of Meiningen. What happened next? The Meiningen troupe went on tour. ‘The theatre's actors were actually called “Meiningers”,’ says Susanne Klapka, switching on the spotlights in the so-called Großes Haus (Great House). Even without actors and an audience, the theatre is beautiful with its gilded balustrades and flat, atmospherically lit dome. ‘First they performed Shakespeare's Julius Caesar in Berlin. It must have been quite a success.’ Because afterwards, the Meiningers went on to travel again and again, further and further afield.

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Elisabethenburg Palace was the residence of the Dukes of Saxe-Meiningen until 1918, © Isabela Pacini / CMR

Over the next 16 years, there were more than 2,500 performances in 38 cities from Amsterdam to Odessa. Because not only did the entire ensemble go on tour, but all the sets, costumes and props had to be taken along as well, the Meiningers travelled through Europe in their own train. Eighty people in 15 large carriages. Sometimes even in 20. But all of this still has an impact, says Susanne Klapka. ‘Anyone who grows up in Meiningen grows up with the theatre. Many children first go to the puppet theatre, then at some point to a children's performance at the State Theatre, and then to their first big play with their parents.’ Because young ensemble members and musicians from outside the city keep coming in, the scene remains very lively. Incidentally, a ‘Week of Young Directors’ is planned for the anniversary year 2026. There will also be a musical about George II and a stage ball with the theme ‘Courtly Festivals’.

A park as beautiful as a Meiningen theatre backdrop

Which brings us back to the summer festival in the English Garden, just behind the State Theatre, which from the outside looks more like a Greek temple in ancient Athens. The garden is one of the oldest inner-city landscape parks in Germany, slightly hilly, with two ponds and large green spaces, covering a total of twelve hectares. At the last count, there were just under 800 trees here, some of which are so old that they may have been planted by the theatre duke's gardeners. The garden is a park modelled on the English style: not a mathematically precise layout, but rather a carefully and sensitively arranged natural setting. When you look out at it from the theatre, it almost looks like a walk-in landscape painting. Or a perfect backdrop. The theatre duke must have loved the English Garden. Even without fairies and goblins.

Cover: © Isabela Pacini / CMR