Mannheim National Theatre

The Mannheim National Theatre is a theatre and opera company in Mannheim, Germany, with a variety of performance spaces. It was founded in 1779 and is one of the oldest theatres in Germany.

In the 18th century Mannheim was the capital of the Electoral Palatinate and the residence city of the reigning prince-electors. When Charles Theodore also became the Duke of Bavaria in 1777, he moved to Munich and brought the theatre company of Theobald Marchand with him from Mannheim. In 1778 he instructed the courtier Wolfgang Heribert von Dalberg—the brother of Prince-Elector and Grand Duke Karl Theodor von Dalberg—to establish a new theatre in Mannheim. At first Dalberg contracted Abel Seyler's theatre company with performing in Mannheim on an occasional basis from 1778 to 1779. Performances included Shakespeare plays such as Hamlet and Macbeth. In the autumn of 1779 Seyler moved permanently to Mannheim with the remaining members of his theatre company. Several actors who had been affiliated with the Gotha Court Theatre under Konrad Ekhof's direction—essentially an offshoot of the Seyler Theatre Company—also joined him; Ekhof himself had died the previous year. The Mannheim National Theatre opened in October 1779 with Seyler as its first artistic director and Dalberg as its general administrator . Seyler remained as director until 1781.

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