Drottningholm Palace Theatre - Twentieth Century Restoration and Revival

Twentieth Century Restoration and Revival

In 1920, under the direction of Swedish theatre historian Agne Beijer, it was restored with the addition of electric light, which today is designed to flicker like candles. It re-opened on 19 August 1922 and is today run by a private foundation, the Drottningholm Theatre Museum, and is funded by government and private grants.

Almost all of the equipment is original, and the stage is unusual for having a significantly greater depth than width. The operas are often performed by musicians wearing period costume, and the orchestra performs using period or copies of authentic instruments. Most productions demonstrate some of the possible stage effects using the original equipment.

In 1991, the theatre, along with the Drottningholm Palace (the residence of the Swedish royal family), the Chinese Pavilion and the surrounding park, became the first Swedish patrimony to be inscribed in the UNESCO list of World Heritage Sites. Parts of the Palace, the Pavilion and the Theatre are open to the public.

Recent Artistic Directors of the theatre are Arnold Östman (1980-92), Elisabeth Söderström (1993-96), Per-Erik Öhrn (1996-2007). British conductor Mark Tatlow took over as Artistic Director in 2007.

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