Our story

Thalia Theater is one of Hamburg's four national theatres and one of the leading dramatic theatres in the German-speaking world. It is operated as a limited liability company (GmbH) with the Free and Hanseatic City of Hamburg as its sole shareholder. Since the 25/26 season, artistic director Sonja Anders has been running Thalia Theater together with commercial director Tom Till. Around 350 permanent employees work on and off the stage to bring you the finest drama every night.

The main house at Alstertor seats around 1,000 people and houses Nachtasyl bar under the roof. Our second venue Gaußstraße in the Altona neighbourhood is the home of the Studiobühne and BOX stages.

With its focus on a strong ensemble and a large repertoire, Thalia Theater stages around 20 premieres each season. It also hosts festivals, special events, guest performances, readings and events. Approximately 250,000 visitors attend the 850 events held each year at Thalia Theater in Hamburg. Numerous guest performances in Germany and abroad, as well as invitations to important festivals such as Berliner Theatertreffen, Salzburger Festspiele, Wiener Festwochen and Festival d'Avignon, are testament to Thalia Theater's first-class reputation.

Renowned and distinguished artists, strong directing styles and popular authors characterise Thalia Theater, at the heart of which is a strong and diverse ensemble of currently 36 actors.

Under Sonja Anders, Thalia Theater will continue its international outreach with visiting theatre companies and festivals such as the Lessingtage. Formats like Nachbarşchaften and Embassy of Hope are part of Thalia Theater's ongoing diversity-oriented approach to forging close ties with communities, projects and key players of urban society. Sonja Anders and her team are committed to theatre that is based on solidarity, openness and communication, and which engages energetically with its audience. Dialogue and discourse characterise the programme, which is complemented by numerous discussion formats and events. The repertoire includes classical drama as well as world premieres, new drama and contemporary themes.

In the future, collaborations with other theatres and collectives will play a much greater role in order to operate in a more sustainable and diverse manner. Thalia Theater considers itself a learning institution and works continuously to break down barriers, provide access and evolve as an organisation.

When Chéri Maurice applied for a theatre concession from the Free and Hanseatic City of Hamburg in 1843, he was not allowed to stage serious plays in order to protect the existing theatre on Dammtorstraße. He then named his establishment after Thalia, the Greek muse of comedy, and opened it on 9 November 1843 at a location opposite the present-day site.

Due to the success of Maurice and those who came after him, a larger theatre was built in 1912 at the present-day Gerhart-Hauptmann-Platz and opened by Leopold Jessner. However, the building was largely destroyed during the Second World War, restored at the end of the 1950s and reopened in December 1960.

The old Thalia Theater building was designed by architects Franz Georg Stammann and Auguste de Meuron and built in 1843 opposite the present-day building. The larger new building was opened in 1912 under the direction of the director Leopold Jessner at Pferdemarkt, today's Gerhart-Hauptmann-Platz, with 1300 seats (architects Werner Lundt and Georg Kallmorgen). During the Second World War, the building was largely destroyed, then restored in the late 1950s and reopened in December 1960.

In 1946 Willy Maertens became artistic director, followed by Kurt Raeck from 1964 to 1969, and then Boy Gobert. Gobert opened the theatre to contemporary experimental theatre with directors such as Peter Zadek, Hans Neuenfels and Jürgen Flimm. In 1972, the theatre opened its own studio stage, the TiK – Thalia in der Kunsthalle, as a second venue. From 1980 to 1985, Peter Striebeck, who was elected by the ensemble, ran the theatre, before handing over the artistic directorship to Jürgen Flimm.

While Thalia had previously been seen as a rather bourgeois theatre, Flimm took a more modern direction with directors such as Jürgen Gosch, Alexander Lang, Ruth Berghaus, Thomas Langhoff and George Tabori. Robert Wilson's musicals (in collaboration with Tom Waits and Lou Reed) have become legendary and went on tour worldwide. The theatre was invited to the Berliner Theatertreffen and voted Theatre of the Year numerous times. Along the way, Thalia Theater has become the most commercially successful theatre in Germany.

After Jürgen Flimm, Ulrich Khuon became artistic director and opened the Thalia in der Gaussstraße in his first season. He also focused on bold directorial styles (Andreas Kriegenburg, Stephan Kimmig, Michael Thalheimer, Armin Petras) and placed a greater emphasis on world premieres. The Autorentheatertage festival promoted young writers, and the Körber Studio Junge Regie, a platform for young directors, was created in collaboration with the Körber Foundation. Once again, Thalia Theater was invited to the Theatertreffen and named Theatre of the Year several times. Financial success continued.

Joachim Lux has been Thalia Theater's artistic director since 2009. Lux is committed to intercultural, interclass and interreligious dialogue. The international festival Um alles in der Welt – Lessingtage, launched in 2010, is testament to this commitment. Taking place at Thalia Theater between the end of January and the beginning of February, the festival showcases renowned international guest performances inspired by Lessing's ideas of enlightenment. Frequent invitations to perform internationally – including in Russia, China, Bogotá and other European countries – as well as numerous awards honour the ongoing efforts of Thalia Theater and its staff.

In summer 2025, Sonja Anders is the first woman in the history of the renowned Thalia Theatre to assume the role of artistic director. She has succeeded in making the ensemble significantly younger, more female and more diverse. Sonja Anders's main focus is on cooperation and close networking with the urban community. A new venue, BOX, has been created at Thalia Gaußstraße.

Hatte das Thalia bis dahin das Image des eher bürgerlichen Theaters, begab sich Flimm mit Regisseur*innen wie Jürgen Gosch, Alexander Lang, Ruth Berghaus, Thomas Langhoff, George Tabori in eine modernere Richtung. Die Musicals von Robert Wilson (zusammen mit Tom Waits und Lou Reed) waren legendär und gingen weltweit auf Tournee. Das Thalia wurde mehrmals zum Berliner Theatertreffen eingeladen und zum Theater des Jahres gewählt. Und es entwickelt sich zum wirtschaftlich erfolgreichsten staatlichen Sprechtheater Deutschlands.

Von 2000 bis 2009 übernahm Ulrich Khuon die Intendanz des Thalia Theaters. Das TIK (Thalia in der Kunsthalle) als zweite Bühne wurde geschlossen und dafür im November 2000 das Thalia in der Gaußstraße eröffnet, eine neue Studiobühne in Hamburg-Altona mit 199 Plätzen und einer variablen Bühne. In wenigen Jahren avancierte dieser neue Spielort zu einer der ersten Adressen für zeitgenössisches Theater. Khuon engagierte namhafte Regisseure wie Andreas Kriegenburg, Michael Thalheimer, Stephan Kimmig, Martin Kušej, Jürgen Kruse und Tomaž Pandur. Auf dem Spielplan standen zahlreiche Uraufführungen wichtiger Autor*innen wie Dea Loher, Gesine Dankwart, Conor McPherson, Moritz Rinke, Fritz Kater, Lukas Bärfuss oder Jon Fosse.

Mit den Autorentheatertagen wurde der schreibende Nachwuchs gefördert und in Zusammenarbeit mit der Körber-Stiftung entstand das Körber Studio Junge Regie. Das Theater wurde mehrmals zum Theatertreffen eingeladen und zum Theater des Jahres gekürt. Der wirtschaftliche Erfolg blieb.

2009 bis 2025 war Joachim Lux Intendant des Thalia Theaters. Das künstlerische Profil bestimmten entschiedene Regiehandschriften, die kontinuierliche Zusammenarbeit mit internationalen Künstler*innen sowie ein starkes Ensemble. Prägend waren die Inszenierungen von Luk Perceval, Jette Steckel, Antú Romero Nunes, Christopher Rüping, Nicolas Stemann, Jan Bosse, Johann Simons oder Kirill Serebrennikov.

Lux setzte sich verstärkt für die Verständigung zwischen den Kulturen, gesellschaftlichen Schichten und Religionen ein. Dafür stand auch das interkulturelle Festival Um alles in der Welt – Lessingtage, das seit 2010 zwischen Ende Januar und Anfang Februar, ausgehend von Lessings aufklärerischen Gedanken, am Thalia Theater mit renommierten internationalen Gastspielen stattfindet. 2017 fand zudem das Festival Theater der Welt am Thalia Theater statt. Viele internationale Gastspieleinladungen - u.a. nach Russland, China, Kolumbien, Australien oder Namibia und in fast alle europäischen Länder – , sowie zahlreiche Auszeichnungen und Einladungen zum Berliner Theatertreffen bestätigten die kontinuierliche Arbeit des Thalia Theaters und seiner Mitarbeiter*innen.

Im Sommer 2025 übernahm mit Sonja Anders erstmals eine Frau die Leitung des renommierten Thalia Theaters. Das Ensemble wird deutlich jünger, weiblicher und diverser. Sonja Anders setzt vor allem auf Kooperationen und eine enge Vernetzung mit der Stadtgesellschaft. Im Thalia in der Gaußstraße entsteht mit der BOX eine neue Spielstätte.