Bollhuset
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Categories: Former theatres | History of Stockholm | History of theatre | History of Sweden | 1667 establishments | 17th century in Sweden | 18th century in Sweden
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Bollhuset, also called by the names Stora Bollhuset, Bollhusteatern, and Lejonkulan during the centuries, was the name of the first theater of Stockholm, Sweden; it was the first Swedish theater and the first real theater building in Scandinavia. The name "Bollhuset" means "The Ball House", and it was originally built in 1627 for ball sports and used in this way for forty years. Between 1667 and 1792 it was used as a theater until it was torn down in 1793; in 1773-1781 the Royal Swedish Opera (and thereby the Royal Swedish Ballet) was located here, in 1781 the national theater was founded in the building, and from 1788 it was the home of the Royal Dramatic Theatre. HistoryThe building was located on Slottsbacken near the Royal palace Tre Kronor. It was described as a large, but simple rectangular building of white bricks with a hip roof. During the 17th century, foreign travelling theater companies often visited Stockholm, especially from Germany and the Netherlands, but they performed in temporary locals; the German theater troop of Christian Theun l. Thum (or Thaumb) performed in the city from 1628 to 1655, but it is not known if they ever performed in Bollhuset. An English troupe, the troupe of Joris Jollifoot, also played in the city in 1648-1649. Already, during the reign of Queen Christina of Sweden, ballets and concerts had ben performed in Bollhuset, the first time in 1649 by an Italian company led by Vincenzo Albrici, and a Dutch theater company acted there in 1652 which counted Ariana Nozeman among its members, but this was temporary. In those days, it was commonly known as "Lejonkulan" ("The Lion's Den"), because a lion, a tribute from the Thirty Years War, was kept there during the reign of Christina. Court theater and foreign theaterIn 1667, when the mourning period for the queen dowager-regent Hedwig Eleonora of Holstein-Gottorp had ended and the Swedish court exploded with parties and a search for amusement, Bollhuset was turned into a theater and decorated as such and foreign theater companies were hired to perform for the court, often from France, Germany and the Netherlands, as Sweden did not have any theater tradition and therefore no native actors. Plays had been performed at the universities by students long before this, though, and in 1686–1691, a group of students from Uppsala University played at the theater. The foreign actors at Bollhuset did play for the public occasionally, but as most people could not understand foreign languages, it remained mostly a theater for the court, and for those within society who have learned foreign languages. An illustrating example of this is that the foreign troupe that seems to have been most popular among the public, the German troupe of the 1730s, was a troupe with displayed acrobatics, fireworks, tightrope-walking and pantomime and thus, with their more visual way of acting, was more easy to understand for those who could not understand the language spoken. During its history, the building was used not only by formally hired troupes, but also by travelling theater companies passing through town. The building possibly (but this is disputed) burnt down with the royal palace in 1697, but if so it was very quickly rebuilt; it was a large, but simple structure. In the 18th century, it was called "Stora Bollhuset" (Big Bollhuset), as they were also the "Lilla Bollhuset", (Small Bollhuset), built in 1648, or simply "Bollhusteatern", (The Bollhus Theater). The theater was closed in fifteen years during the Great Northern War when the economy made it impossible to pay the actors' wages. The first national theater; Kungliga svenska skådeplatsenDuring the Age of Liberty, the first national theater was to be founded at Bollhuset, then officially called Kungliga Svenska Skådeplatsen (Royal Swedish Stage). In the 1720s and 1730s, the interest for amateur theater was great in Stockholm and a lot of temporary amateur troupes performed among the aristocraty, the most known one "Count De la Gardies comedients", made by noble youths. After the amateur-performance Tobias by a couple of idealistic studen'ts at the birthday of king Frederick I of Sweden in 1737, during a period when the building was empty after the last foreign troupe had left, the opinion wanted a theater in the own language. This was granted by the Riksdag, who encouraged the establishment of the first native troupe of actors. One of the arguments taken up in the parliament was the large costs of the expensive foreign troupes. The first Swedish comedy performed on a public stage, Den Svenska Sprätthöken, was performed in October 1737 with Johan Palmberg and Beata Sabina Straas in the leading parts, and during the 1740s, the plays in Bollhuset was performed by native actors, in the native language, which made it accessible for the public for the first time; at this point, the theater had eight hundred seats. Sweden now saw theater, opera and ballet performed by native artists for the first time. The theater was first under the rule of the state; it's first play was a political one. This did not last long and from 1740 it was ruled by the theater troupe themselves and entirely depended on the audience after the loss of government support. This first attempt to start a native Swedish theater was interrupted; though the Swedish actors were popular among the public, the native aristocracy, who were French-influenced, was less enthusiastic. In 1753, the Swedish actors were fired by queen Louisa Ulrika of Prussia, who hired a French theater company instead, and the Swedish troop split in two; one, under Petter Stenborg, performed in smaller houses, "touring" around the city of Stockholm, and the other toured in the countryside under Johan Bergholtz and Peter Lindahl. The French troupe also followed the court and they stayed in Bollhuset only in winter. The French troupe held a high class and performed the latest plays from Paris, but as the public in general did not speak French, it was foremost a pleasure for the upper-classes, though the public seems to have enjoyed the visual effects. The second national theater and OperaIn 1771, king Gustav III of Sweden fired the French theater company, and the Swedish actors, now led by Carl Stenborg, then saw their chance and asked to perform a play at the opening of the parliament of 1772. The king liked it enough to allow them to perform another play, an opera, in 1773, Thetis and Phelée, performed by Carl Stenborg and the concert-singer Elisabeth Olin, and the success was so great that the king decided to found a Swedish-speaking theater and opera, and the Royal Swedish Opera was founded the same year and located in Bollhuset. This was an opera, not a theater, and the attempts to perform speaking drama was not very successful. In 1781 the king, in his effort to establish a Swedish theater, hired a group of French actors, led by Jacques Marie Boutet de Monvel, to educate and perform with the first generation of new Swedish-speaking actors at Bollhuset. The opera was the year after moved to the new building of the Swedish Royal Opera and separated from the talking-part actors, and this is considered the beginning of the Swedish theater. Monvel left the country in 1786, and in 1788 the second director fled the country to escape his creditors, so the actors formed a company and asked for the king's protection; he became the formal director, placed the theater under Royal protection, to be ruled by the actors themselves by votes every fourteenth day under the supervision of the Royal Swedish Academy of Arts; according to the reports made by the academy, this rule was quite chaotic, and the votings is described as capricious and temperamental; " The male actors arguing with each other, one of the ladies voting yes because another lady voted no, other of them counting their buttons and letting fate decide", and in 1803, the actors themselves asked the system to be replaced by a director. In 1792–1793, Bollhuset was deemed to be too old and decayed and was torn down; the actors moved to the palace Makalös, (also called The Arsenal), where the Royal Dramatic Theater was to reside until 1825, after which it again was reunited with the Opera. In 1798–1842, the theaters and operas of Stockholm were united by a royal monopoly. Actors and companies in the Theater of BollhusetThe Dutch troupe 1667-1674This troupe opened the Theater with the play Orontes en Satira by Magnon in February 1667.
The Dutch troupe 1680-1684This troupe performed the play Disa for the public in 1684, and thus, the theater is known to be more than a court theater from this point forward.
The Swedish student-troupe from Uppsala 1686–1691This troupe was made up of idealistic students, all male. It had played in Uppsala 1682-86.
The German troupe 1691–1697
The French troupe 1699–1706
The German troupe 1721
The French troupe 1723–1727
The German troupe 1731–1737This is described more like a circus-troupe, with fireworks, acrobatics, pantomime and Harlequin-performances.
The first Swedish troupe 1737–1754This was the first Swedish troupe; it performed both opera and drama, and it also contained the first Swedish dancers, though the names are sadly often missing.
The French troupe 1753–1771
The Italian troupe 1754–1767This was an opera-troupe, meant to complement the French theater troupe. It consisted of members from the company of Pietro Mingotti.
The second Swedish troupe 1772–1782This was an opera troupe, not a theatrical troupe.
The Swedish-French troupe 1781–1792
See also
External links and sources
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