Drottningholm Palace Theatre

Work began on the building in 1764, and it eventually included the theatre as well as a complex of smaller chambers off the main auditorium to house members of the court who did not stay at the palace, including Adelcrantz, the master of the revels, the noble chambermaids, the actors and staff of the theatre, and young aristocrats.

The interior, decorated by Adrien Masreliez, uses trompe l'oeil, papier-mâché, and stucco to imitate more expensive materials like marble and gold.

In 1766, the theatre was opened by Queen Lovisa Ulrika, and there were several performances that included court members and the royal family as actors celebrating the occasion.

[4] The theatre was used every summer by the court until 1771, when Adolf Frederik died and the French acting troupe he had imported was dismissed.

King Gustav was deeply interested in the theatre, hiring an acting troupe, and even writing and directing several works at Drottningholm.

After the assassination of King Gustav III in 1792 (which is the basis of the Giuseppe Verdi opera, Un ballo in maschera), the theatre was used as a storage room for Drottningholm Palace's unused furniture.

Some small changes were made, including the addition of electric lights, which were designed to flicker like candles, the replacement of the original ropes that moved the machinery, and the substitution of replicas for delicate backdrops.

In 1935, the theatre began to host seasonal performances, starting with three ballad operas by Arvid Niclas von Höpken [sv], Joseph Martin Kraus and Carl Michael Bellman.

[7][8] The first new opera to be premiered at the theatre in modern times was Jonas Forssell's Trädgården (The Garden) in July 1999, conducted by Roy Goodman, with Malena Ernman in the trouser role of Ziöberg.

It is under her direction that took place a widely acclaimed (then touring) "Mozart – Da Ponte Trilogy" conducted by Marc Minkowski and staged by Ivan A. Alexandre [fr].

So the stage – complete with wings, curtains, and wind machines – was painstakingly copied and erected in the studios of the Swedish Film Institute".