Spieldose. Mechanisches Theater München

Spieldose is an amateur theatre with a focus on puppetry and object theatre often combined with acting, dance, light show and music.

History

Founded in 1955 by four students of architecture, the Spieldose moved into a theatre venue at Künstlerhaus located at Lenbachplatz in the city centre of Munich in 1961. In 2014 they lost their home of 53 years and moved to a performance space in Werksviertel Mitte near Ostbahnhof in Munich. After the end of their rental contract in 2019 they performed at different venues, including the open air amphitheatre in the English Garden where they annually stage their traditional version of Geyerwally. By tradition tickets are for free.

Repertoire

They stage mostly their own pieces and original productions. The repertoire stretches from funny pieces to surreal performances, from parodies of crime stories to dadaist dialogues.

• 1957: Ein Mensch (A Human Being) - a marionette pantomime with music
• 1987: Die Nachtigall (The Nightingale) - a marionette play after the fairy tale The Chinese Nightingale
• 1990: Dio 2.0 Konfusionen (Dio 2.0 Confusions) - black theatre with dance
• 1997: Picknick im All (Picknick in Space) - marionette and object theatre
• 1997: Spuihansl. A Bayer gegn Dod und Deifi (Johnny the Player. A Bavarian Against Death and Devil) - Bavarian dialect marionette play with music
• 2009: Die haarsträubenden Abenteuer des Walter Sack (The Hair-racing Adventures of Walter Sack) - puppet play
• 2011: Von einem der auszog das Gruseln zu lernen (One that went into the world to learn to be frightened) - puppet play with actors*