Berlin entertainment

On most summer Sundays, Berlin’s best free entertainment kicks off around 3pm when Joe Hatchiban sets up his custom-made mobile karaoke unit in the Mauerpark’s amphitheatre. As many as 2000 people cram on to the sto…

Life’s still a cabaret at this intimate 1912 mirrored art nouveau tent theatre, one of Berlin's most beloved venues for sophisticated song-and-dance shows, comedy and chansons (songs). Sip a glass of bubbly while re…

One of the world's most famous orchestras, the Berliner Philharmoniker, is based at the tent-like Philharmonie, designed by Hans Scharoun in the 1950s and built in the 1960s. In 2018, Sir Simon Rattle, who had been …

After a seven-year exile, Berlin's most famous opera company is once again performing at the venerable neoclassical Staatsoper Unter den Linden, which emerged from a massive refurbishment in 2017. Its repertory incl…

This top-rated indie screens a smart line-up of cinematic expression, from new German films and international art-house flicks to themed retrospectives and other stuff you’d never catch at the multiplex. For silent …

The smallest among Berlin's trio of opera houses is also its least stuffy, even if its flashy neo-baroque auditorium might suggest otherwise. Productions are innovative and unconventional – yet top quality – and oft…

In a converted 1920s expressionist cinema by Erich Mendelsohn, Schaubühne is western Berlin's main stage for experimental, contemporary theatre, usually with a critical and analytical look at current social and poli…

Cradled by Volkspark Friedrichshain, this open-air cinema has seating for 1500 on comfortable benches with backrests, plus a lawn with space for 300 more film fans. A kiosk sells drinks and snacks, and you're free t…

The jewel among Berlin’s multiuse indoor venues, this 17,000-seat arena regularly welcomes entertainment royalty such as Depeche Mode, Rihanna and Beyoncé. It's also home turf for the city’s professional ice-hockey …

A favourite among English-speaking expats and Germans, this state-of-the-art cinema with nine screens, comfy seats and top technology shows the latest Hollywood blockbusters in 2D and 3D, all in English, all the tim…