Maximteatern, called "Maxim" in English

English language

English is a West Germanic language that arose in the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms of England and spread into what was to become south-east Scotland under the influence of the Anglian medieval kingdom of Northumbria...

 or The Maxim Theatre, has been a popular private theatre

Theatre

Theatre is a collaborative form of fine art that uses live performers to present the experience of a real or imagined event before a live audience in a specific place. The performers may communicate this experience to the audience through combinations of gesture, speech, song, music or dance...

 at Karlaplan

Karlaplan

Karlaplan is an open park-plaza area in Östermalm in Stockholm. The architect Lindhagen was created the characteristic form of the plaza, during the 1890's. It was created in the image of Place de l'Étoile in Paris. The plaza is named in honour of all the Swedish kings called Karl, like Karl X...

 in central Stockholm

Stockholm

Stockholm is the capital and the largest city of Sweden and constitutes the most populated urban area in Scandinavia. Stockholm is the most populous city in Sweden, with a population of 851,155 in the municipality , 1.37 million in the urban area , and around 2.1 million in the metropolitan area...

, Sweden

Sweden

Sweden , officially the Kingdom of Sweden , is a Nordic country on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. Sweden borders with Norway and Finland and is connected to Denmark by a bridge-tunnel across the Öresund....

 since the 1960s.

Originally named the Karlaplansstudion, it was designed as a theatre for film screenings. The house was built in 1945-46 by architect Ernst Grönvall. It was originally used as a studio by Swedish Radio who aired the popular radio shows Karusellen (The Carousel) and Frukostklubben (The Breakfast Club) from there in the 1940s and 1950s. In 1963, The Beatles

The Beatles

The Beatles were an English rock band, active throughout the 1960s and one of the most commercially successful and critically acclaimed acts in the history of popular music. Formed in Liverpool, by 1962 the group consisted of John Lennon , Paul McCartney , George Harrison and Ringo Starr...

 played their first foreign gig there. In 1967 the studio was rebuilt into a theatre and movie theatre, but from the 1970s onwards has run exclusively as a theatre.

In the 1980s the Limabrall company took over the management of Maximteatern. Behind Limabrall were Lill Lindfors

Lill Lindfors

Lillemor "Lill" Lindfors is a Finland-Swedish/Swedish singer. Born in Helsinki, Finland she has been performing in Scandinavia with minor and major success since the 1960s. She debuted as a revue actress in Uddevalla in 1960 and the following year as a recording artist...

, Magnus Härenstam

Magnus Härenstam

Johan Herbert Magnus Härenstam is a Swedish television host, actor and comedian. Härenstam hosted the Swedish version of the game-show Jeopardy! for 14 years before being replaced by Adam Alsing...

, Brasse Brännström and Aller Johansson - all well-known names in the Swedish entertainment industry. Productions such as SPÖK, Omaka par (The Odd Couple

The Odd Couple

The Odd Couple is a 1965 Broadway play by Neil Simon, followed by a successful film and television series, as well as other derivative works and spin offs, many featuring one or more of the same actors. The plot concerns two mismatched roommates, one neat and uptight, the other more easygoing and...

), Skål (Cheers) and Arsenik och gamla spetsar (Arsenic and Old Lace

Arsenic and Old Lace (play)

Arsenic and Old Lace is a play by American playwright Joseph Kesselring, written in 1939. It has become best known through the film adaptation starring Cary Grant and directed by Frank Capra. The play was directed by Bretaigne Windust, and opened on January 10, 1941. On September 25, 1943, the...

) were among the most successful productions in the 1980s and 1990s.

Since 2003 the theatre has been run by a company called Proscenia.