The theatrical tradition of the Divadlo pod Palmovkou dates back to the nineteenth century. At the renowned coaching inn “U Deutschů,” on the site of which the theater stands today, amateur theater performances were apparently staged occasionally as early as 1865, and folk festivals of all kinds were held there. Later, one of the suburban wooden theater arenas was located here. In 1892, one of the inn’s owners, Jan Hurt, was granted a theater license, and from that time on, professional theater was performed here. Despite numerous operational and financial problems, the performances here were among the most important cultural events in Prague at the time—if only because they fostered Czech theater. The Libeň theater hall frequently changed owners and its focus. For a time, an operetta ensemble even performed here successfully, making history with the first production of The Merry Widow, staged shortly after its Vienna premiere (under the direction of Marie Zieglerová). However, the theater business in Libeň was still mostly plagued by financial difficulties, and so the first era of professional theater in Libeň came to an end as early as 1909.
A New Phenomenon
A new phenomenon was making its presence felt. As early as 1904 and 1907, František Ponec and Viktor Ponrepo brought their cinematographs to the theater hall of what was then the Hotel u Deutschů (two new four-story Art Nouveau buildings had been erected on the site of a former coaching inn; one of them—the future Divadlo pod Palmovkou—became the hotel’s home). A permanent cinema with a modern auditorium seating 570 spectators did not find a home here until 1910. A permanent cinema with a modern auditorium seating 570 spectators found its home here only in 1910. Shortly after World War I, the cinema was renamed Svépomoc. Under this name, it experienced its greatest boom starting in the mid-1920s (it even had a summer venue near Rokytka that could seat nearly 900 people).
From Žižkov to Palmovka
In the fall of 1947, a new theater group called the Žižkov City Theater was formed at the Akropolis in Žižkov under the leadership of Antonín Kurš. As time would show, it was this group that became an important precursor to the current professional ensemble of a theater in Libeň. The theater’s early years were not easy. The company nearly fell apart during its first season, but the newly appointed director, Jan Strejček, gathered a new group around him—mostly young actors who had come to Prague from provincial theaters—and the company adopted the name Městské a oblastní divadlo Žižkov. On August 31, 1948, the first premiere took place at the Akropolis, marking the official beginning of the history of what would later become the Divadlo pod Palmovkou—namely, Josef Kajetán Tyl’s Jiříkovo vidění.
Městské a oblastní divadlo Žižkov operated in Žižkov for only one year. Due to planned renovations, it had to leave the Akropolis hall. On October 27, 1949, it began trial operations (under rather makeshift conditions) in Prague’s Libeň with a performance of Kornejchuk’s play Makar Dubrava, and on December 2 of the same year, it officially launched its regular theatrical season there with Tyl’s Fidlovačka. The programming of the new stage, named the S. K. Neumann Theater, sought to combine popular appeal with increasing artistic sophistication; gradually, the theater developed its own distinctive artistic character and became a sort of incubator for prominent actors who significantly influenced the face of modern Czech theater.
These interesting artistic endeavors gained momentum especially when Václav Lohniský became the chief director of the Libeň theater. During his tenure in Libeň, a number of productions were staged that drew the attention of both the Prague theater community and the general public. The Libeň theater’s repertoire included both classical plays and productions by modern Czech and international authors (often in their Czech premieres), as well as musicals and musical comedies. For example, in 1959, the “blues musical” Jesse B. Semple Gets Married, the song “Ach ta láska nebeská” by Jiří Suchý and Jiří Šlitr—who were not yet very well known at the time—was heard for the first time, and just a few years later, in 1963, the European premiere of Albee’s famous play Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf? took place in Libeň with the author in attendance. Lohniský’s production of Brecht’s Mother Courage was a major event in its time, which, along with others, helped stir up the cultural ferment of the 1960s. Czechoslovak premieres in Libeň during this period included Simon’s Barefoot in the Park, Agatha Christie’s The Mousetrap, and Dietl’s plays.
An Island of Relative Artistic Freedom
A whole series of remarkable productions in Libeň also emerged in the 1970s and 1980s. Even then, much like in the 1950s and 1960s, a whole host of prominent figures passed through this theater. Among them were directors Jaroslav Dudek, Aleš Podhorský, Pavel Háša, Ota Ševčík, Evžen Sokolovský, Karel Pokorný, Otomar Krejča, Jan Grossman, and Jan Nebeský. Due to the “normalization” political and social climate, which naturally affected the activities of the S. K. Neumann Theater as well, the repertoire shifted toward appealing to a more mainstream audience. At the same time, however, thanks to its strong directors and actors, the Libeň theater represented – at least within the Prague context—an island of relative artistic freedom. The productions staged in the 1970s and 1980s were remarkable for the quality of their acting and directing. Among the most interesting productions of that era were Schiller’s Mary Stuart, Nash’s The Merchant of Rain, Molière’s The Impostures of Scapin, Wilde’s The Importance of Being Earnest, Čapek’s The Makropulos Case, The Three Musketeers After Thirty Years by Petr, Voskovec and Werich’s Heaven on Earth, Hrabal and Nývlt’s Closely Watched Trains, Brandon and Thomas’s Charley’s Aunt, Rose’s Twelve Angry Men, Albee’s Who’s Afraid of the Wolf, and others.
Divadlo pod Palmovkou is born
In 1989, Ota Ševčík, director of the S. K. Neumann Theater, suggested to then-principal Jan Hyhlík to rename the theater. Since September 27, 1990, the Libeň theater has borne a new name – Divadlo pod Palmovkou. In the early 1990s, the theater was led by director Ota Ševčík, and the company’s artistic activities were marked by a certain degree of financial uncertainty. In 1991, Petr Kracik became artistic director (and in 1992, also the theater’s principal), and he managed to stabilize the situation. Due to significantly reduced financial subsidies, there was a substantial reduction in staff and a major overhaul of the actors ensemble. Many of the figures who had shaped the character of the Libeň theater in the 1970s and 1980s did not believe in the theater’s future and left. They were replaced by young actors, including Jiří Langmajer, Vilma Cibulková, Ivan Jiřík, Miroslava Pleštilová, Kamil Halbich, and others.
In 1995, Divadlo pod Palmovkou underwent extensive renovations, which restored the Libeň theater hall to its original Art Nouveau appearance after many years, once again ranking it among Prague’s most beautiful theater halls. The renovation also symbolically ushered in a new era for the Libeň theater, which in the second half of the 1990s became one of the most-visited and most-watched theaters in the country. Productions of Ibsen’s Peer Gynt, Steinbeck’s Of Mice and Men, Camus’s Caligula, Allen’s Bullets Over Broadway, Schaffer’s Amadeus, Éva Pataki’s Edith and Marlene, Kohout’s The Poor Murderer, and Williams’s Cat on a Hot Tin Roof have become the most frequently performed titles in the Libeň theatre’s entire history.
At the Mercy of the Elements
In 2002, the theater was hit by a catastrophic flood, with water levels in the auditorium reaching nearly two meters. The severe damage to the theater building necessitated an extensive renovation, which altered nearly all of the theater’s spaces. Eleven years later, the flooding situation unfortunately repeated itself, though fortunately not to the same extent. In June 2013, the basement areas of the building were flooded by groundwater from the Rokytka River, damaging the heating room, electrical wiring, ventilation system, and the storage areas for sets and props.
In September 2013, Michal Lang was appointed the new principal and artistic director of Divadlo pod Palmovkou by the Prague City Council, and the Municipal Investor Department took over the reconstruction of the damaged building. The theater’s reconstruction ultimately took more than two years, during which the ensemble prepared nine new productions under extremely challenging conditions and performed a series of shows on theater tours both in and outside of Prague. Under the leadership of director and artistic director Michal Lang, a new ensemble was formed, comprising experienced and popular actors as well as promising new talents. Under the slogan “Palmovka Survived”, theatrical life was able to return in full to the renovated home theater in September 2015. Shortly thereafter, Divadlo pod Palmovkou once again ranked among the most successful and most-watched Czech theaters and received a number of prestigious awards, including being named the best Czech theater of 2018.
Palm OFF Fest
From 2016 to 2023, Divadlo pod Palmovkou organized respected international theater festival PALM OFF FEST, which focused on the most interesting and inspiring performances (not only) from Central Europe. Thanks to this festival, the Czech audience was introduced to exceptional performances and artists from Poland, Germany, Slovakia, Slovenia, Hungary, Romania, Estonia, Lithuania, Latvia, and Moldova. Since its inception, PALM OFF FEST has also strived to be a welcoming space for the convergence of cultures, nations, theaters, and diverse worldviews that are seemingly foreign yet closely connected. An integral part of every festival performance were also moderated discussions between the audience and the artists, as well as other accompanying events (exhibitions, concerts, etc.), which made the festival a vibrant place for open debates and respectful, if not always “comfortable”, dialogue.
Post-COVID Years
During the forced restrictions on theater operations amid the COVID-19 pandemic, Divadlo pod Palmovkou temporarily shifted the focus of its work to the online space, where it offered audiences a range of new projects tailored for the internet—including a radio version of A. Kurejčik’s play Uražení. Bělo(r)usko on the situation in contemporary Belarus, an audio version of The Passion Play, featuring not only actors but also journalists, original musical-theatrical video clips, and extensive reading series for both adults and children. In 2021, Divadlo pod Palmovkou theater, directed by Michal Lang, filmed a movie based on a work by Russian satirist Viktor Shenderovich, To See Salisbury.
The year 2022 was a period of gradual consolidation at the Divadlo pod Palmovkou, as well as a time to reassess its development to date and its artistic and operational direction. After nearly two years heavily influenced by measures to combat the spread of COVID-19, Russia’s invasion of Ukraine began in February 2022 – the largest armed conflict in Europe since the end of World War II. Czech society, which had begun to slowly recover from the extremely challenging period of the pandemic, thus “seamlessly” entered a period of another major and likely long-lasting crisis – economic, energy, humanitarian, and social. The impact of these events on the artistic output of a theater that strives to “keep its finger on the pulse of the times” and present its audiences with works that directly respond to current issues was profound.
The theater responded that very same year with the premiere of the original bilingual Czech-Ukrainian fairy tale Kouzelných snů/чарівні сни, in which Ukrainian actors performed in their own language alongside Czech actors, and which was created in collaboration with Ukrainian artists. The theater staged the Czech premiere of The Sleepers by the prominent Lithuanian author Marius Ivaškevičius, one of the few theatrical responses at the time to contemporary Russia, a clash between democracy and totalitarianism, and the theme of the collapse of the certainties of the “old world,” built on the framework of Chekhov’s Three Sisters. In June 2024, theater added Czech premiere of the successful production Máma by Esther Bol (Thalia Award in the drama category for Tereza Dočkalová), which uses the backdrop of a mother-daughter relationship to highlight the reality of contemporary Russia. In the fall of 2025, both critics and audiences considered the staging of The Manhattan Project – a play by contemporary Italian playwright Stefano Massini—to be strikingly timely. The play explores the development of the most destructive weapon in human history, as well as the characters and inner dilemmas of the scientists who contributed to its creation.
In 2024, the ensemble of Divadlo pod Palmovkou underwent a significant generational shift, bringing a new generation of young actors into its ranks. It remains a place where tradition meets progressive ideas, where equal attention is given to both contemporary original works and classic plays that still have something to say today. Among its current productions are Ibsen’s Nora, Shakespeare’s The Taming of the Shrew, Shaw’s Pygmalion, Hrabal’s Closely Watched Trains, the dramatization of Last Goddess, and original productions such as Frantík the Armless, 294 Brave Ones, Night of Broken Nails, Vermin, and Too Short Telomere.