The Badhuis Theatre

Nowadays, the Badhuis building in Nijmegen is known as a theatre, but originally it functioned as an actual bathhouse. This concept was familiar all over Europe in a time where working class families did not have access to private bathrooms. A bathhouse particulary ensured that the poorest could have access to this basic need.

Our Badhuis building was built in 1927 by the Nijmegen council. Visitors could choose from eight bath tubs and seventeen showers. A shower would cost 20 cents (in Gulden, the Dutch currency at the time) and a bath was 35 cents. Upon arrival, men and women were separated to the right and left wings of the building, respectively. When our audiences enter the theatre venue today, you can still see that same division at the entry doors!

By the mid eighties, the era of public bathhouses was over. The building was refurbished and turned into a theatre for Theater Teneeter, a yought theatre company preceding Kwatta. Since 2002, Het Badhuis is Kwatta’s permanent home. It is also an official national monument.