Grips-Theater

The Grips-Theater is Berlin's best-known theater for children and young people, at Altonaer Strasse 22 in the Hansaviertel near the Tiergarten. Volker Ludwig founded the company in 1969 with the idea of theater that takes children seriously and tackles real social conflicts. Most plays are devised collectively and pick up current themes, from family breakdown to migration. The company's worldwide breakthrough was the 1986 musical Linie 1, which follows one night on the West Berlin underground and has run continuously since then, with over nineteen hundred performances. Visitors find plays for children from age five, for teenagers and for adults; the foyer serves a beer or an apple spritzer before the show.