A night at the theatre

Most evening shows start at 7:30 or 8 p.m., and weekend matinees at 3 or 4 p.m. Doors often open about an hour before, with a cloakroom, a bar and the programme booklet in the foyer.

A play or musical usually lasts two to three hours with an interval of 15 to 20 minutes; some plays run straight through. Most houses give the running time on the show's page.

You leave coats, jackets and large bags at the cloakroom, at some houses for a small fee. Operas are often sung in the original language; surtitles above or beside the stage translate the text, at some houses into English too.

Almost every larger German city has a Stadttheater or Staatstheater, run by the city or the state. A house has several Sparten (branches), such as plays, opera, ballet and children's and youth theatre, and a company of its own. Theater Dortmund has six.

The houses play in repertoire: a different piece is on tonight than tomorrow, and a production returns again and again over the season. A Premiere is the first public performance of a new production.

A musical, by contrast, often runs night after night in the same house: Starlight Express has played in its purpose-built theatre in Bochum since 1988, and the Musical Dome in Cologne and the Capitol Theater in Düsseldorf also run musicals in blocks.

Plays run from Schiller and Brecht to new writing: at the Schauspielhaus Bochum, the Düsseldorfer Schauspielhaus, Schauspiel Leipzig or the Staatsschauspiel Dresden. Most houses have a smaller stage beside the main one for more experimental work.

Opera plays at the Semperoper in Dresden, the Aalto-Theater in Essen, the Deutsche Oper am Rhein in Düsseldorf and Duisburg, the Oper Leipzig and the Oper Köln. The Staatsoperette Dresden stages operettas and musicals, and the Musiktheater im Revier in Gelsenkirchen opera, musicals, concerts and dance.

For comedy and cabaret, try the Kom(m)ödchen in Düsseldorf, which has shown political cabaret since 1947, or the Herkuleskeule in Dresden. Roncalli's Apollo Varieté in Düsseldorf has acrobatics and variety shows.

Buy from the theatre's box office, its own website or the ticket seller it links to. Resale sites often charge more than face value and add their own fees. Remaining tickets are sometimes sold at the evening box office, usually from an hour before the start.

Young people pay less: pupils, students and trainees get clearly reduced tickets at many houses. The Semperoper sells students remaining seats at a reduced price at the evening box office; ask other houses about student tickets too, and bring your ID.

A theatre Abo bundles several performances of a season with a fixed seat and a discount. You don't need one, but if you go three times a year it often already pays off.

Almost every city theatre has a children's and youth theatre, and Dortmund has a house of its own for it. The Theater der Jungen Welt in Leipzig, founded in 1946, is regarded as the oldest professional children's and youth theatre in Germany.

Check the age recommendation before you book, such as “from 4 years”. Afternoon shows are best for families, and children usually need a ticket of their own too.

In Advent many houses stage the Weihnachtsmärchen, a fairy-tale play for the whole family.

Most houses have wheelchair spaces. Ask the box office before you book which seats suit you best and whether companions get a concession.

Some houses offer performances with sign language, audio description or surtitles. The show's page has the dates where the house gives them.

There is no fixed dress code. Most people wear what they would wear to a nice dinner, and jeans are fine. At opera evenings and premieres you see more suits and evening dresses.

Switch your phone off, not just to silent: a lit screen in a dark auditorium distracts everyone. Latecomers are often let in only at the interval, and food and drink usually stay in the foyer.

At the end the audience claps until the curtain has fallen several times. Standing ovations are kept for special nights, and at opera premieres boos for the director are sometimes part of the evening.

Many of the big houses are central: the Semperoper on Theaterplatz in Dresden, the Oper Leipzig on Augustusplatz, Schauspiel Leipzig on Bosestraße, the Bühnen on Offenbachplatz in Cologne and the Düsseldorfer Schauspielhaus on Gustaf-Gründgens-Platz.

At some houses the ticket doubles as a local public transport fare on the day of the show, for example at the Deutsche Oper am Rhein across the VRR area. It differs, so check the ticket or ask the house.