Theatergesellschaft Willisau

The Theatergesellschaft Willisau (Engl. Theatre Society Willisau) is a still active amateur theatre society in the town of Willisau, Canton Luzern, Switzerland. It was founded in 1804 by citizens of Willisau under the name of “Thea­ter-­ und Musik-Liebhaber-Gesellschaft” (Engl. Theatre and Music Amateur Society). Over time, the society traded also under the names of “Musik- und Theatergesellschaft” and “Theater- und Musikgesellschaft”.

History and venues

In 1804, citizens of Willisau founded the "Theater- und Musikliebhaber-Gesellschaft" as an association. They aimed at a theatre made for citizens by citizens: local amateurs playing in front of a local audience. In 1811, the theatre society was allowed to build a theatre within the town hall for their own use. The society therefore acquired the stage construction and theatre costume stock of the Convent St. Urban. After 1926, the society was in need of more space and chose the Mohrenbühne as a venue.

Since 1979, the amateur society has been employing professional directors to stage their performances, amongst them Louis Naef, Ueli Blum and Orsolina Lehner Bundi. A youth theatre division of the society grew into shape, debuting with an adaption of Frank Wedekind's "Frühlings Erwachen" (Engl. "Spring Awakening") in 1994.

Since 2012, the Theatergesellschaft Willisau has been using the attic in the Zeughaus "I der Sänti" as a venue for their performances.

Repertoire

During their first hundred years of theatre-making, the Theatergesellschaft Willisau performed German-language drama and comedy mainly by popular 19th-century playwrights like August von Kotzebue, Theodor Körner, Carl August Iffland, Ernst Raupach, Louis Angely, Karl von Holtei, Charlotte Birch-Pfeiffer, Oscar von Redwitz, or Gustav von Moser. Part of the repertoire also dealt with Swiss figures or history, like "Nikolaus von Flüe" and "Erlachs Tod" by Joseph Ignaz Zimmermann, or "Die Nonne von Wyl" by Carl Georg Jakob Sailer. From the 1920s to the 1960s, operetta was the most important genre in the society's repertoire. The 1970s brought a shift towards 20th century and contemporary drama, with performances of plays like "Andorra" by Max Frisch, "Der Herr Puntila und sein Knecht Matti" by Bertolt Brecht (performed in a vernacular translation), "Glaube Liebe Hoffnung" by Ödon von Horváth, or "Die zwölf Geschworenen" by Reginald Rose/Horst Budjuhn. The Theatergesellschaft Willisau also adapted local subjects and developed own stories for the stage, like "Ein Schweizer Abend. Nächtliche Einblicke in Schweizer Traumlandschaften am Ende des 2. Jahrtausends" (Engl. "A Swiss Night. Nocturnal Insights in Swiss Dreamscapes at the End of the 2nd Millennium"). The society fosters performances of classical drama and comedy in Swiss German vernacular, like the 2023 production of Shakepeare's "As You like it" (Germ. "Wie es euch gefällt").

Organisation

To realise their productions, the Theatergesellschaft Willisau receives subsidies by public institutions and cooperates with sponsors. The society is a member of the Regionalverband Zentralschweizer Volkstheater (RZV, Engl. Regional Association of Popular Theatre in Central Switzerland), which itself is part of the umbrella association Zentralverband Schweizer Volkstheater (ZSV, Engl. Central Association of Swiss Popular Theatre).