The Augusts Reinbergs project "Dum spiro, spero" ("While I breathe, I hope") won and construction began, mainly funded by local Russian merchants and some nobility.

During the First World War the theatre was evacuated, but by 1918 it was already back in business, and on 15 October staged Richard Wagner's The Flying Dutchman.

The creative program was authored by Jānis Akurāters, a Latvian writer, then head of the Art department of the Ministry of Education.

The current managing director of the theatre is Ojārs Rubenis and the artistic director is Edmunds Freibergs[4] The building is a combination of style; the facade has both eclectic and baroque features as well as elements of Art Nouveau, which was extremely popular in Riga at the time.

Some seasons there is a fourth hall, "The Horror Bus", where a play by that name is held for children.