Costly renovation ends 110 years of theatre at Hylddalen

This month will be the last time audiences can watch theatre among the trees at Hylddalen, an outdoor stage in Maribo, DR reports. NørregadeTeatret is now the last theatre using the stage, and its production of “The Princess Takes a Day Off” will be the final performance there.

After 110 years, the stage needs a major and expensive renovation, while audience numbers have also fallen. Hylddalen has hosted theatre and music for generations since the beginning of the 20th century.

Frank Rubæk, director of NørregadeTeatret, said he understood the decision despite finding it deeply disappointing. The theatre is the only remaining user and performs at the stage only every other year, he said.

“You cannot put a lot of money into renovating a place like this in a municipality such as Lolland, which is under such financial pressure,” Rubæk said.

Rubæk has produced theatre at the outdoor stage since 1998. Lolland Municipality must save several hundred million kroner, and Martin Boesen of the Social Democrats, chairman of the municipality’s Children, Schools, Leisure and Culture Committee and deputy chairman of NørregadeTeatret’s board, said the required funding could not be found.

“Lolland Municipality’s finances are under pressure, and that means priorities must be set. It is not a cheap renovation of a place that is used only once every other year,” Boesen said.

At the same time, attracting audiences has become more difficult. When NørregadeTeatret began performing at Hylddalen, it drew between 10,000 and 12,000 people. Now, the theatre is fortunate if 4,000 attend, Rubæk said.

A meeting place for Maribo

Conni Bramsted Andersen, a resident of Maribo, said she was saddened by the news that this year’s performance would be the last. She has missed only one performance since NørregadeTeatret began staging productions there in 1998.

“It has been fantastic every single time. They are extremely talented, and they can bring some fantastic actors here,” she said.

She said she would miss not only the theatre and its impressive productions, but also the role the event played in the community.

“It is a meeting place every other year. It is not only people from Maribo who come. They attract audiences from near and far. So it is a historic place for Maribo,” she said.

The stage itself will not disappear, but the lack of renovation means its last users will leave. NørregadeTeatret will continue operating in Maribo, but not at the outdoor stage.