Hamburger Theater Festival

Four Weeks of the Best of German-Language Theatre

The Hamburger Theater Festival is a guest performance festival: it doesn't bring Hamburg productions to the stage, but rather invites the most important productions from Germany, Austria, and Switzerland to Hamburg. Over 80 productions from renowned German and Austrian stages have been shown in the Hanseatic city in recent years. The concept is simple and effective: those who can see Vienna, Berlin, Munich, and Düsseldorf at a single address save themselves four trips.

Venues 2026 – Hamburg's Most Important Stages

• Deutsches SchauSpielHaus – Hamburg's largest spoken theatre stage (Kirchenallee, St. Georg)
• Thalia Theater – with its grand stage and Gauß Studio (Alstertor, City Centre)
• St. Pauli Theater – a traditional stage on the Reeperbahn
• Helmut Schmidt Auditorium of the Bucerius Law School (Jungiusstraße, Neustadt)

Programme 2026 – Stars and Classics

The 2026 edition, from May 23 to June 21, features in-demand productions from major theatres. On stage will be acting stars such as Joachim Meyerhoff, Felix Kammerer, and Jens Harzer, among others. The programme includes: Shakespeare's "Richard III" and "Romeo and Juliet", Bertolt Brecht's "The Good Person of Szechwan" (Die heilige Johanna der Schlachthöfe), adaptations based on Franz Kafka and Oscar Wilde, as well as premieres from the 2025/2026 repertoire of German-Austrian stages.

From Düsseldorfer Schauspielhaus to Burgtheater

In 2026, the productions will come from the Düsseldorfer Schauspielhaus, Wiener Burgtheater, Berliner Ensemble, and Münchner Residenztheater, among others. The festival explicitly positions itself as "new, provocative, and discussion-provoking" and annually seeks out the productions that are being discussed in the German-speaking theatre scene.

A Hamburg Theatre Foundation

The organizer is the Stiftung Hamburger Theater Festival, founded to promote German-language theatre in Hamburg. The festival is financed by donations, sponsorships, and ticket sales. The patron is Hamburg's First Mayor, Dr. Peter Tschentscher. Tickets are available via hamburgertheaterfestival.de and at the box offices of the respective theatres.