Historical Background

Built-in 1766 for Queen Lovisa Ulrika, Drottningholm’s Slottsteater, or the Court Theatre of Drottningholm, is the only 18th-century venue in the world that still uses the original stage machinery and is one of the best preserved theatres from this time in the world. From an international perspective, the theater is a unique building, hiding a playful interior.  The salon has painted marbling, papier mâché consoles and plaster columns. To this day, the stage’s wooden ingenious machinery is still operated by hand. Drums, blocks, ropes, and counterweights make the great machinery work. Around thirty sets have been preserved – a theatrical world for an 18th-century repertoire.

The rise, fall and reborn.

Drottningholm Palace Theatre’s first period of glory began in 1777 when King Gustav III took over the palace. The big opera premières were often performed here, where a French theatre group and Sweden’s Royal Dramatic Theatre performed. With the help of actors such as Monvel, composers such as Naumann and Kraus, the ballet master Gallodier and the architect Desprez, he created a Swedish theater and operatic art at Drottningholm. Gluck’s latest operas, French opéra comique and pantomime ballets were also performed here until Gustav III’s death in 1792. After that, the theatre was gradually wound down and the building came to be used as a warehouse. It was restored to its original condition under the direction of the literary historian Agne Beijers in 1922. When it was rediscovered, in the early part of the 20th century, a complete 18th-century theatre was discovered—in its original form.  After changing the ropes in the machinery, installing electric lights, and gentle cleaning, the theater was reopened. 

Transference to the opera.

The first major production of a full opera was A. E. M. Gretry’s Martin und Gripon, an opera comique composed under the title Les Deux avares in 1770. Fifteen performances, sung in Swedish, were given during the summer of 1946. In 1948, Gustaf Hilleström took up the post as an artistic director. Since the first tryout of a complete Mozart opera, Bastien unde Bastienne, in May 1947, had proved to be so successful – with fifteen subscription and six public performances – it was obvious that Hilleström would direct all his energies into the production of eighteenth-century operas. Hilleström opened his first season (1948) with two new opera productions, an opera-comique by A. E. M. Grétry, Den talande tavlan (Le Tableau parlant) and an opera buffa by Domenico Cimarosa, Il matrimonio segreto. They became fixtures in the Drottningholm repertoire. Next to these names stand three more composers: Georg Friedrich Händel, Christoph Willibald Gluck, and Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. Some of the most known operas that were performed at Drottningholm are Orpheus and Euridice, Don Giovanni, Cosi fan tutte, La Clemenza di Tito. Thanks to a visit from the British Queen Elizabeth II in 1956, the Drottningholm Theatre had become better known internationally. The staging of this musically difficult and rarely performed Händel opera in Drottningholm attracted music critics from the Swedish and international press.

Drottningholms Slottsteater playfulness

Drottningholm’s Palace Theater is a national institution with assignments and grants from the government. The theater is part of the Drottningholm World Heritage Site, Sweden’s first cultural object on the list that is considered to be of inalienable value to humanity. Every summer, a number of operas, plays and dance performances are staged, together with concerts, tours and events. In its scene designs, you’ll find a world lost in time and adapted to the centuries-old repertoire. The fascinating guided tour takes you into other rooms in the building, where highlights include hand-painted 18th-century wallpaper and an Italianate room (salon de déjeuner) with fake three-dimensional wall effects and a ceiling that looks like the sky. Performances are held at Drottningholms Slottsteater in summer using 18th-century machinery, including ropes, pulleys, wagons and wind machines. Scenes can be changed in less than seven seconds! Illusion was the order of the day, and accordingly, the theatre makes use of fake marble, fake curtains and papier-mâché viewing boxes. Even the stage was designed to create illusions regarding the size. The theatre building is located at Drottningholm Palace, and guided tours are available all year round.