My favourite cultural venue: Keller62

Some call it small. Others: intimate. Some think it’s rustic and ‘a bit’ alternative. Others: beautiful.

Whenever I have to describe Keller62, I always find myself raving about it a bit: A small theatre, just as you’d imagine it in your most romantic dreams. A small theatre of a kind that’s almost impossible to find anymore.

As soon as you step inside, you’re practically already on stage. At the back, a high bar. Candlelight. Dozens of theatre reviews from a time when journalists still visited small theatres are stuck to one wall. To the left, a heavy red curtain. To the right, the 48 seats. No technical bells and whistles. Set within an ancient stone vault. It exudes the charm of bygone days, combined with optimism and an undiminished love for the art of the small stage.

It is almost 25 years old, this smallest theatre in Zurich. During this time, around 1,000 productions have been staged in nearly 3,000 performances. The programme is diverse and unpretentious in the best possible way, which is incredibly refreshing in that part of the city.

And I would like to emphasise here: I am not just a die-hard Keller62 aficionado because I was allowed to stand on the black basement stage boards myself in two of these 1,000 productions. But one thing is the experience you have as a visitor. And the other is that of an artist, which can and must speak just as much for a venue. And as such, I have always found Keller62 and its director Lubosch to be extremely warm, approachable and passionate.

The smaller the stage, the bigger the heart? At Keller62, that might well be true.