Art also continues to suffer from the corona pandemic. In order to reduce the risk of infection, many seats at the Mecklenburg State Theater remained vacant in the past season. But the theater management is satisfied with the response.
Schwerin (dpa/mv) – The Mecklenburg State Theater in Schwerin draws a mixed balance at the end of the 2021/2022 season. The ongoing corona pandemic has once again put a strain on work and limited the number of visitors. Extremely reduced seating capacity, a two-month theater closure and illness-related performance cancellations are just some of the adversities that the theater, like many other cultural institutions, had to contend with, summed up the theater management at the end of the season.
At the same time, however, it was possible to “conjure up an aura of openness and curiosity” in the theater, emphasized General Manager Hans-Georg Wegner. You have reached people with many exciting stories and events. We can be quite satisfied with 63,000 visitors,” Wegner continued. Before the outbreak of the pandemic, the theater had almost 200,000 visitors a year.
At the weekend, the Staatstheater said goodbye to the summer break with a literal drum roll. As part of the traditional Castle Festival, former Police drummer Stewart Copeland started his European tour for the cross-over project “The Police Deranged for Orchestra” in Schwerin. Together with the Mecklenburg State Orchestra, he brought hits by the new wave band in symphonic guise to the stage in front of the castle.
The new theater management decided to change the concept of the Castle Festival. Instead of opulent opera productions in the open air, the traditional theater offered a varied program this summer, in which all six departments of the house were included for the first time. More than 50 events on four stages were originally planned for the three-week festival. Due to the corona, six performances had to be canceled, one open-air performance due to thunderstorms. According to the theater, a total of 17,500 visitors came to the 2022 Castle Festival. In some cases, twice as many visitors were counted for the large opera productions in the Old Garden between the theater and the castle.
The commercial director Christian Schwandt was nevertheless satisfied. “The new concept has proven itself and is much more economical than using the Old Garden. We will again be offering a wide range of concerts and performances next summer. We have established the stage on the floating meadow in the palace garden as a new venue, the proved to be the ideal place for concerts,” stated Schwandt.
