TAK, the theatre of a country with no national theatre

Liechtenstein has no marble-and-velvet national theatre. It has the TAK, an old clubhouse beside Schaan’s church, and by the theatre’s own account it has played the role of a state theatre for more than fifty years. For anyone with time to spare, it ranks high on my list of things to do in the country, because it’s the best evening out you’ll find here.

From parish hall to national stage

The building dates from 1913-14. A village youth association put it up as a clubhouse next to the parish church of St. Laurentius and the presbytery, for plays, gymnastics, meetings and events. In November 1918 it briefly sheltered former Russian prisoners of war, and in the 1940s it served as a temporary school.

The municipality bought it in 1968. In the winter of 1969-70 the budding theatre scene renamed it the Theater am Kirchplatz, the theatre on church square, and on 8 January 1970, according to the Historisches Lexikon, the country’s first small-scale stage opened there with the Kaktus cabaret. The Zurich architect Ernst Gisel converted it into a proper theatre, and the new auditorium opened in 1972. A cooperative has run it ever since.

Under its first director, Alois Büchel, who ran it until 1992, it grew into a multi-genre house known across the Liechtenstein, Vorarlberg and eastern Switzerland region, helped by home-grown hits such as «Schweig, Bub!» in 1983-84. The Lexikon notes that it relies on substantial public funding from the state and from the municipalities of Schaan and Vaduz.

Today it’s called TAK Theater Liechtenstein and uses three venues, its own 295-seat house, the SAL in Schaan with 650 and the Vaduzer-Saal in Vaduz with 644. From the 2026/27 season it’s directed by Jan Sellke, who takes over from Thomas Spieckermann.

What can you see at the TAK?

The programme covers almost everything. There’s drama from leading German-language companies and, since 2019/20, an in-house ensemble. There’s classical music in the TAK Vaduzer Weltklassik series, with internationally leading soloists and orchestras and one concert a season from the Liechtenstein Symphony Orchestra, eight concerts in 2026/27. There’s jazz and world music, and the theatre is proud to list Jan Garbarek, Chick Corea, Brad Mehldau and Branford Marsalis among past guests. And there’s cabaret and comedy from Austria, Switzerland, Liechtenstein and Germany, dance, literature and an award-winning children’s and youth theatre with shows from age two.

My advice for a visitor is simple. Without German, go for the music, which needs no translation. The cabaret is excellent, but it plays on language and sometimes dialect, and you’d miss most of it.

Tickets, payment and a free bus ride

Advance sales open on Wednesdays and Thursdays from 14:00 to 17:00, and the 2026/27 season has been on sale online since 24 August 2026. The box office for each performance opens an hour beforehand. Online you pay by card, Apple Pay, Google Pay or Twint, and at the box office euros are accepted too, although francs are the reference price and the euro figure follows the exchange rate.

There are concessions for students and apprentices up to 26, and at the Weltklassik concerts anyone entitled can pick up leftover seats for CHF 10 just before the start. Tickets aren’t refunded, but you can pass them on.

What I like best is that your ticket counts as a fare on the buses in Liechtenstein run by LIEmobil, there and back. If you drive, parking by the venues is free on weekdays from 17:00 and all weekend. Drama and classical performances also have free introductory talks 40 minutes before curtain up.

Is it accessible?

Yes. The auditorium can be reached in a wheelchair, there’s an accessible toilet in the foyer, and wheelchair spaces can be booked in every venue. The TAK and the SAL have portable induction loops for hearing aids, handed out at the box office.

An afternoon and evening in Schaan

The TAK sits in the middle of Schaan, close to almost everything. I’d make a full afternoon of it. Start at the Roman fort at Schaan, with the chapel of St. Peter standing on its walls, carry on, if it’s an exhibition weekend, to DoMuS in the town hall, and finish with a performance. Schaan is also the capital of the country’s carnival, so in February the atmosphere goes up several notches.