English

Welcome!

As an International Production Centre for Puppet and Object Theatre, our team here at Westfluegel Leipzig is doing its best to meet the needs of our international audiences and artists. However, as a small team who runs this theatre, we can’t offer a fully translated website and keep it up to date, so we hope to answer most of your questions here. If you have any further requests, please contact us directly and we’re happy to help!

A general overview about the theatre, our artistic profile and the history of our building can be found here:

For international audiences

If you’d like to visit our theatre, you can filter our schedule (Spielplan) for performances suitable for international audiences (most of them are in English, with little or no language). Most of them have a description in English on this website.

All Performances in English, with little or no language are marked with this icon:

To book tickets in advance, just follow the ticket link on our website and book via our partner Billeto. Our box office at the theatre opens 60 minutes before the performance. We offer tickets in three different price categories (20 € / 15 € / 10 €) between which you may choose freely, depending on your personal financial means. There’s a free choice of seats in the auditorium.

Our Culture Bar froelich & herrlich is open on performance nights and every Friday. Every now and then offers its own cultural programme which you can also find in our schedule (free entry, donations welcome).

To reach our theatre by public transport, take the tram line 14 from the city centre and get off at “Karl-Heine-Str./Merseburger-Str.”, or tram line 3 (dir. Knautkleeberg) and get off at “Felsenkeller”. The address is Westfluegel Leipzig, Hähnelstr. 27, 04177 Leipzig.

Westflügelfassade mit Seifenblasen

For professionals

If you would like to perform at our theatre, please contact us directly with information about your work and what you would like to show here. We also recommend taking a look at the technical riders of our auditoriums (on the page “Veranstaltungsräume”) in advance and keep in mind that our main focus is figure, object, and puppet theatre.

Profile & history

Profile

As an international production centre for figure theatre, the Westfluegel Leipzig is strongly connected with the national and international figure theatre scene. In addition to the two independent ensembles that regularly work at the theatre, Figurentheater Wilde & Vogel and Lehmann und Wenzel, numerous artists from different countries are closely associated with the theatre. They form an „international ensemble“ of puppeteers, visual artists, actors and musicians.

The programmatic focus of the Westfluegel Leipzig is on contemporary international figure and object theatre. In this field our theatre functions as a co-production partner and venue for guest performances. The programming is oriented towards various aspects, such as international exchange, the promotion of young talent as well as joint research and further development of the genre. The organisation of the theatre is based on a low-hierarchy approach and an interdependance of organisational and artistic fields of work. The artistic direction is carried out by the team.



History of the Westfluegel

Since 2003, the historic building with its striking Art Nouveau architecture has hosted (figure) theatre performances, as well as ball nights and dance theatre, concerts, exhibitions, performances and more. The association Lindenfels Westfluegel e. V., founded in 2005, is the owner of the building, which is to be preserved and carefully renovated. The sustaining members of the association support both the preservation of the building and the artistic work of the Centre for Figure Theatre with their contributions.

Since 2011, the Westfluegel has been institutionally funded by the City of Leipzig. In 2012, the (culture) bar froelich & herrlich opened on the ground floor of the Westfluegel. It is named after the owners of the stovepipe factory that was located here from 1939-1975 and is open on Fridays and during theatre performances. A dedicated circle of volunteers supports the Westfluegel team in the performance and bar operations. The 2015 Federal Theatre Prize awarded to the Westfluegel Leipzig is a distinction for the quality of its artistic programme and its function as a „think tank“ for contemporary figure theatre in Germany. Since 2020, the Westfluegel Leipzig has been part of the „Alliance of International Production Centres for Figure Theatre“, in which three of the largest houses for freelance produced figure and object theatre in Germany have joined forces: FITZ Theatre of Animated Forms Stuttgart, Schaubude Berlin and Westfluegel Leipzig.



History of the building

In 1876, a dance hall was added to a flourishing inn (today a Vietnamese restaurant), the „Gesellschaftshalle zu Lindenau“ – today the „Schaubühne Lindenfels“. A concert garden had bordered the dance hall since 1892. But only eight years later, when the former villages of Plagwitz and Lindenau had developed into booming districts of Leipzig, a small hall was planned in its place as an extension of the „Gesellschaftshalle zu Lindenau“, today’s Westfluegel.

This hall was designed together with the conversion of the previous Gesellschaftshaus as the first major commission of the Leipzig architect Emil Franz Hänsel (who also designed Kaufhaus Brühl, Zentralmessepalast, Specks Hof). The opening took place on September 23, 1900.
After several changes of ownership and a division of the complex in 1939, the small hall was sold to the neighbouring factory owner Bernhard Frölich. He made various additions to the magnificent Art Nouveau building and converted the ballroom into a storage building, and from 1943 into a production facility for stovepipes. The factory, which was classified as essential to the war effort, survived the Second World War, ceased production in 1975 and stood empty since then.

In 2003, an initiative led by the ensemble Figurentheater Wilde & Vogel in cooperation with the Schaubühne Lindenfels Leipzig began to put the building, which had been empty for more than 20 years, back to cultural use. By removing all subsequent fixtures and fittings, the building was restored, almost to its original state. Today, the Westfluegel once again has two halls. The lower hall is 4.60 metres high, the upper hall, which formerly served as a dance hall, is 8.20 metres high. The historic entrance has been restored, and the foyer and an art nouveau staircase with vaulted ceilings are accessed via the art nouveau vestibule. A two-winged iron gate, which originates from a former brewery, closes off the vestibule from the street.

The so-called Ballhaus Nights (October 2003, May and October 2004) and the Ballhaus Prologues (April, May, September 2005) were the first events in the not yet properly re-opened venue. In 2005, the property was acquired by the newly founded non-profit association Lindenfels Westfluegel e. V. In 2006 and 2007, the first two summer programmes with international figure theatre and dance theatre as well as exhibitions and concerts took place from May to October. Since then, the Westfluegel Leipzig has attracted and continues to attract many internationally successful artists and ensembles. The first heating system to be permanently installed in the Westfluegel was put into operation with the “Ofenweihe” (dedication of the stove) on October 18, 2014. The two wood-burning stoves, pipes and the entire system were procured and installed thanks to donations – by the company Firetube and other supporters – and a successful crowdfunding campaign.