Venue: Ronacher
Address: Seilerstätte 9
Town: Vienna, AT

The Ronacher theater, originally Etablissement Ronacher, is a theater in the Innere Stadt district of Vienna, Austria. Along with the Raimund Theater and the Theater an der Wien, it is run by the Vereinigte Bühnen Wien (VBW). It was initially built as the Wiener Stadttheater from 1871 to 1872 by the architects Ferdinand Fellner the Elder and Ferdinand Fellner for a private working group of the journalist Max Friedländer and the playwright and director Heinrich Laube. The two wanted to build a bourgeois theatre that would compete with the imperial court theatres - without censorship. The house was opened on 15 September 1872 with Schiller's Demetrius in an adaptation of Laube. Twelve years after its opening, the house burned down on May 16, 1884. Since the building is not free on all four sides, a reconstruction as a theatre was not permitted according to the fire protection regulations that are now in force. In 1886 Anton Ronacher bought the ruins of the fire and had Ferdinand Fellner the Younger (who in the meantime had founded the office of Fellner & Helmer) build a concert and ball house on it from May 1887 to April 1888. The murals are by Eduard Veith. The main staircase was built with steps from Kaisersteinbruch. A large ballroom and a hotel were attached to the new variety theatre, and it was already able to use electric light, and included promenades and a conservatory. The new Etablissement Ronacher was not a playhouse, but equipped with tables and chairs. During the performance, people were allowed to drink, eat and smoke. However, due to the poor economic situation, Ronacher later had to give up the house. From 1890 onwards, artists performed more frequently, which attracted more suburban populations and drove away the aristocracy. Later, the program was supplemented by revues, operettas, dance and singing performances. The house was rebuilt again and again and adapted to the needs of the modern variety business (1901, 1906 and continuously between 1907 an