Making a splash: Famed Berlin theatre opens pool outside its doors

Berliners can now take a dip outside one of Germany's best-known theatres after the city's Volksbühne opened a temporary swimming pool in the square in front of the venue.

The theatre's new artistic director, Matthias Lilienthal, said the pool had become something of a talking point in the German capital.

"For the past two weeks, the city has talked about nothing else but whether the pool is a brilliant idea or completely stupid," Lilienthal told dpa, only slightly exaggerating.

He recalled one local approaching him a few days ago and telling him that he must be "completely nuts."

"I thanked her for the compliment, and then she said she loves the pool," said Lilienthal, who has already taken a dive.

Lilienthal sees the project, in part, as a political protest against deteriorating public infrastructure - a frequent source of frustration in Berlin lately. He has pointed in particular to problems with the city's swimming pools, schools and public transport.

The Volksbühne, or People's Theatre, is a Berlin cultural institution renowned for provocative and experimental theatre. Under longtime artistic director Frank Castorf, who held the post from 1992 to 2015, it became internationally known for radical productions that mixed theatre with video, loud music and other unconventional techniques.

The price of a plunge

The 25-metre pool, called the Volksbad, opened on Friday and will cost the theatre around €300,000 ($346,000) to install and operate - roughly the cost of a major theatre production.

Admission is free, with timed tickets available online three days in advance. Lifeguards are on duty, changing rooms have been installed and there is even a food stand.

The pool can accommodate up to 46 swimmers at a time and is expected to attract nearly 20,000 visitors before it closes in October.

Not everyone is convinced the money is well spent. Berlin state lawmaker Dunja Wolff, of the centre-left Social Democrats, criticized the project at a time of pressure on cultural budgets, saying she would rather have seen the money go to smaller venues, particularly children's and youth theatres.

The Volksbühne says the project is intended in part to attract people who might not otherwise visit the theatre and to serve as a welcome to the surrounding neighbourhood.

A different kind of stage

Lilienthal's first season as artistic director of the Volksbühne officially begins in October. The 66-year-old previously headed Berlin's HAU theatre and the Munich Kammerspiele. He succeeds René Pollesch, who died suddenly two years ago.

With renovation work still under way on the theatre's overhead stage machinery, Lilienthal organized the pool project ahead of the new season.

The idea was inspired by performance artist Florentina Holzinger, who is currently representing Austria at the Venice Biennale and has previously staged "Ophelia's Got Talent" at the Volksbühne using a large pool of water.

Holzinger is due to return to the Volksbühne for an event marking the end of the pool season, although details have yet to be revealed.