Most cities place their theatre at the edge of a square; Košice put its in the centre, so that the whole town has to walk around it. Erected at the end of the nineteenth century, the State Theatre is a compact neo-baroque composition - a domed silhouette, sculpted façades, an auditorium in red and gold - and its interior decoration, including ceiling paintings drawn from Shakespeare, reflects the cultural ambitions of a prosperous Habsburg-era city. The film covers the building inside and out: the foyers, the auditorium, the stage machinery, and the work of the companies who perform there today. Around it, the square's musical fountain and clock have become the city's meeting point, giving the programme an easy sense of place and daily life. A well-defined architecture and performing-arts title for cultural strands and European city collections.
