{"id":45183,"date":"2026-04-01T17:37:33","date_gmt":"2026-04-01T15:37:33","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.fkv.de\/?post_type=events&p=45183"},"modified":"2026-04-10T14:21:59","modified_gmt":"2026-04-10T12:21:59","slug":"lecture-effi-b-rolfs-und-matthias-stich-the-schmiere-adventure","status":"publish","type":"events","link":"https:\/\/www.fkv.de\/en\/events\/lecture-effi-b-rolfs-und-matthias-stich-the-schmiere-adventure\/","title":{"rendered":"Lecture \u201cEffi B. Rolfs und Matthias Stich: The Schmiere Adventure\u201d"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Worst Theatre in the World at the Steinernes Haus in Postwar Frankfurt<\/strong><\/p>\n

Founded in the 1950s by Rudolf Rolfs, Die Schmiere<\/em> began as a travelling theatre company. With a wooden caravan, Rolfs toured the country before stopping in 1950 at the war-damaged R\u00f6merberg and setting up his theatre in front of the Steinerne Haus\u2014with the motto: \u201cDie Schmiere \u2013 the worst theatre in the world.\u201d<\/p>\n

The theatre moved into the basement of the heavily damaged building, where traces of Die Schmiere<\/em> are still visible today in the form of wall paintings. With simple seating and an improvised stage, an independent and highly political theatre emerged, confronting postwar society through satire and radical critique. Rolfs deliberately operated without public funding to avoid censorship, establishing a practice that can be seen as an early form of subcultural production in Germany. As stated in the theatre\u2019s 1985 chronicle: \u201cIf there is such a thing as \u2018subculture\u2019 in the Federal Republic, it began in 1950 with Die Schmiere.\u201d<\/p>\n

The leaflets, pamphlets, and publications presented in the exhibition Hidden History<\/em> resonate strikingly with the present, while also expressing the enduring necessity of critical and independent artistic voices. Supporting forms of art that are accessible, innovative and bold has remained a central concern of the Frankfurter Kunstverein to this day.<\/p>\n

Today, Die Schmiere<\/em> is continued by Rolfs\u2019 daughter Effi B. Rolfs together with Matthias Stich and is based in the Carmelite Monastery. Through cabaret, satire and a range of changing formats, it remains a place where social and political issues are addressed independently.<\/p>\n

In the lecture, Effi B. Rolfs and Matthias Stich offer insights into this continuity\u2014from its beginnings in post-war Frankfurt to its present-day practice as a theatre that has maintained an independent and critical voice.<\/p>\n

Admission: \u20ac5, including entry to the exhibition. No registration is required.<\/p>\n

Please note that the event will take place in German.<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Worst Theatre in the World at the Steinernes Haus in Postwar Frankfurt Founded in the 1950s by Rudolf Rolfs, Die Schmiere began as a travelling theatre company. With a wooden caravan, Rolfs toured the country before stopping in 1950 at the war-damaged R\u00f6merberg and setting up his theatre in front of the Steinerne Haus\u2014with …<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":45241,"menu_order":0,"template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-45183","events","type-events","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.fkv.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/events\/45183","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.fkv.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/events"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.fkv.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/events"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.fkv.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/www.fkv.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/events\/45183\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":45293,"href":"https:\/\/www.fkv.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/events\/45183\/revisions\/45293"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.fkv.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/45241"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.fkv.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=45183"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}