In November 1771 and February 1772, Martin Nürenbach made an unsuccessful attempt to start the first public theatre in Oslo.

Over next few years, an avid debate developed with strong criticism of the Danish dominancy of the arts.

Art critic Johan Sebastian Welhaven was one of the conservatives who took out against the theories of the extreme nationalists.

Ibsen's famous play Peer Gynt premiered here in 1876 as well as a large number of important Norwegian productions, including several by Norway's other national bard at the time, Bjørnstjerne Bjørnson.

During the continued run of Peer Gynt, a fire started on the performing night of 15 January 1877, heavily damaging the theatre; luckily, this was later repaired.