Schauspiel Köln is a theatre and company in Cologne, North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. It forms together with the Cologne Opera and other houses the Bühnen der Stadt Köln (Stages of the city of Cologne). The listed building has 830 seats in the Grand House, 120 in the locksmith and 60 in the refreshment room. In addition, the listed 'Halle Kalk' has 200 seats, it was used until closing in the summer of 2015 because of the danger of collapse. Since the 2013/14 season (September 2013) Depot 1 and Depot 2 have been used as interim venues during the extensive renovation of the Schauspielhaus on the site of the former Carlswerk in Schanzenstraße in Cologne-Mülheim. Ernst Hardt was the intendant before he moved on to the Westdeutscher Rundfunk in 1927. History The history of the Cologne theater begins in the Middle Ages. The first house was built in 1782, which was later called "Komödienstraße". A successor building from 1829 was destroyed in 1869 in a fire. In 1872, a new house was built in the Glockengasse (an historic street). In May 1898, a new theatre building on Habsburgerring was built. Based on a design by architect Carl Moritz, a neo-baroque building with restaurant and garden terrace was built. The 1902 finished building had 1800 seats and eventually cost 3.9 million marks. Cologne theater then had two large stages, which initially operated as "United City Theater", from the season 1906/07 as Opera House and Schauspielhaus, but were temporarily held together. In the new theater operas in particular, in the "old" house in the Glockengasse theater and operetta were performed. Both houses were run by Julius Hofmann, the then director of the Schauspielhaus. 1920 to 1945 Acting director Gustav Hartung engaged well-known Berlin actors such as Heinrich George to the theatre in the 1920s, which made the house known nationwide. In 1929, Bertolt Brecht's Threepenny Opera was scheduled to be performed in the Schauspielhaus. However, the conservative Center Party tried to stop this. Konrad Adenauer, the mayor Cologne intervened and the play was performed. At the time of the Nazi rule , the National Socialist opera director Alexander Spring was the general manager of the Kölner Bühnen and head of the Schauspielhaus. During the war, the two houses in the Glockengasse and the Habsburger Ring were destroyed or severely damaged. The theatre was heavily destroyed in a bombing raid in August 1943. In August