The Bellevue Teatret is a theatre in Klampenborg at the northern outskirts of Copenhagen

Copenhagen

Copenhagen is the capital and largest city of Denmark, with an urban population of 1,199,224 and a metropolitan population of 1,930,260 . With the completion of the transnational Øresund Bridge in 2000, Copenhagen has become the centre of the increasingly integrating Øresund Region...

, Denmark

Denmark

Denmark is a Scandinavian country in Northern Europe. The countries of Denmark and Greenland, as well as the Faroe Islands, constitute the Kingdom of Denmark . It is the southernmost of the Nordic countries, southwest of Sweden and south of Norway, and bordered to the south by Germany. Denmark...

. Opened in 1936 to the design of Arne Jacobsen

Arne Jacobsen

Arne Emil Jacobsen, usually known as Arne Jacobsen, was a Danish architect and designer. He is remembered for contributing so much to architectural Functionalism as well as for the worldwide success he enjoyed with simple but effective chair designs.-Early life and education:Arne Jacobsen was born...

, the building is considered one of his most important architectural works and examplar of Danish functionalism. The theatre is part of a scheme also including the adjoining Bellevue Beach

Bellevue Beach

Bellevue Beach , often simply referred to as Bellevue, is a beach at Klampenborg on the northern outskirts of Copenhagen, Denmark...

 and residential block and was, at the time, seen as a manifestation of "the dream of the modern lifestyle".

History

In the early 1930s, Arne Jacobsen won a competition for a masterplan for the Bellevue area im Klampenborg, Gentofte Municipality, shortly after opening his own architectural office in 1930. The Bellevue Teatret was the last stage of this scheme, which also included facilities for the local Bellevue Sea Bath

Bellevue Beach

Bellevue Beach , often simply referred to as Bellevue, is a beach at Klampenborg on the northern outskirts of Copenhagen, Denmark...

 and the Bellavista residential buildings

Bellavista housing estate

The Bellavista housing estate designed by Arne Jacobsen is the clearest example of Bauhaus architecture in Denmark. Completed in 1934, the estate is located just north of Copenhagen, in Klampenborg, Gentofte Municipality, next to Jacobsen's Bellevue Beach, which had been completed a couple of years...

. The theatre opened in 1936 as a mondain summer theatre. It closed a few seasons later, then operating as a cinema

Movie theater

A movie theater, cinema, movie house, picture theater, film theater is a venue, usually a building, for viewing motion pictures ....

 until 1980, when it was reopened as a theatre and film centre by Jes Kølpin.

Building

The building is considered one of the most important architectural work by Arne Jacobsen, exemplar of early Danish functionalism. The inside has mosaic

Mosaic

Mosaic is the art of creating images with an assemblage of small pieces of colored glass, stone, or other materials. It may be a technique of decorative art, an aspect of interior decoration, or of cultural and spiritual significance as in a cathedral...

 decorations and is noted for the retractable roof. Walls, balcony and proscenium

Proscenium

A proscenium theatre is a theatre space whose primary feature is a large frame or arch , which is located at or near the front of the stage...

 are clad in canvas

Canvas

Canvas is an extremely heavy-duty plain-woven fabric used for making sails, tents, marquees, backpacks, and other items for which sturdiness is required. It is also popularly used by artists as a painting surface, typically stretched across a wooden frame...

 and bamboo. The front curtain

Front curtain

The front curtain, also known as the house curtain, act curtain, grand drape, main drape or main rag is a stage curtain at the very front of a stage....

 shows a beach girl, painted by Åge Sikker Hansen.

Repertoire

Since the reopening as a theatre, the repertoire has been dominated by modern music performances, particularly rock musicals.

An annual tradition is a Summer Ballet. Until the 2008 season produced in cooperation with Copenhagen International Ballet, it is now made in produced in cooperation with Tim Rushton

Tim Rushton

Timothy John Rushton MBE is a British choreographer and artistic leader of the Copenhagen-based Danish Dance Theatre, Denmark's largest modern dance company....

 and Danish Dance Theatre

Danish Dance Theatre

Danish Dance Theatre is the largest modern dance company in Denmark. The company was founded in 1981 by Randi Patterson, an English/Norwegian choreographer and innovator of modern dance. Patterson was succeeded by American Warren Spears and the Dane Anette Abildgaard...

.