Theater Tiefrot
Private chamber theatre in Cologne's Altstadt-Nord with up to 80 seats — an off-theatre stage balancing literary classics and political drama.
Theater Tiefrot is a private chamber theatre in Cologne, founded in 2002 by actor and director Volker Lippmann. It defines itself as a "socially engaged literary theatre" and is a fixture of Cologne's independent off-theatre scene.
At a Glance
- Type
- Private chamber theatre (registered association)
- Location
- Dagobertstraße, Cologne, Altstadt-Nord district (city centre)
- Opened
- 2002
- Founder
- Volker Lippmann (actor and director)
- Auditorium
- flexible seating, up to 80 seats
- Building
- former Kolping journeymen's hostel (1905), beneath a hotel
- Identity
- socially engaged literary theatre
Theater Tiefrot opened in 2002 inside a former Kolping journeymen's home built in 1905, meaning the stage is literally housed beneath a hotel in a building over a century old.
Founding and Venue
The theatre opened on 12 April 2002 with a production of Bertolt Brecht's Baal. It is housed in a former Kolping journeymen's hostel dating from 1905, located beneath a hotel on Dagobertstraße. The auditorium can be configured in various ways and accommodates up to 80 audience members.
Programme
The repertoire spans works by contemporary playwrights alongside freshly interpreted classics — from Jordi Galceran's The Grönholm Method and Schiller's Mary Stuart in a version by Dacia Maraini, to Goethe's Elective Affinities and a romantic comedy after Molière. The theatre gained wider recognition with The Artificial Silk Girl after Irmgard Keun and Brother Molière by Gerold Theobald.
Political and Intercultural Work
Alongside literary adaptations, Tiefrot stages politically charged pieces such as The Wave, based on Ron Jones's classroom experiment about fascism, in an adaptation by Reinhold Tritt. The venue also welcomes intercultural guest companies, including the Ali Jalaly Ensemble from Iran and Theater TKO from Croatia.
Timeline
- 1905Construction of the Kolping journeymen's hostel that now houses the theatre
- 2002Theatre Tiefrot founded by actor and director Volker Lippmann
- 12. April 2002Opening night with Bertolt Brecht's "Baal"
Map
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Address
Dagobertstraße 32
50668 Köln
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Sources & links
- Official website
- Official Instagram (@theater_tiefrot)
- Wikidata (retrieved 2026-06-23)
- Wikipedia (retrieved 2026-06-23, rev 205660160)
Auto-generated, last verified: 2026-06-27
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