Internationaal Theater Amsterdam: Theater in Leidseplein

Internationaal Theater Amsterdam is the city's main theatre company and house, based in the Stadsschouwburg on the Leidseplein, a neo-Renaissance building from 1894. You go for theatre and dance in the horseshoe-shaped Grote Zaal, or in the newer Rabozaal behind it, and for festivals such as Julidans and the Holland Festival. Amsterdam has had a municipal theatre since 1638, when a first house opened on the Keizersgracht with Vondel's Gijsbrecht van Aemstel. Fires destroyed that theatre in 1772 and its wooden successor on the Leidseplein in 1890. The present stone building, by Jan and Jacob Springer with Dolf van Gendt, opened in 1894. In 1969 the Aktie Tomaat protest against established theatre played out here, and between 2000 and 2009 the Rabozaal was added over the Lijnbaansgracht. The company and the building merged as ITA in 2018, and in September 2026 the name Stadsschouwburg Amsterdam went back on the facade, with ITA continuing as the organisation and ensemble under artistic director Eline Arbo. ITA shows often have English surtitles. The brasserie serves breakfast, lunch and dinner, with a terrace on the square, and there is a bookshop. There are lifts and adapted toilets, and wheelchair spaces are booked through the box office. The box office is open from Monday to Saturday, 13:00 to 18:00, and until the show starts on evenings with a performance. On Sundays and public holidays it opens two hours before the start. If a show is sold out, you can take a waiting-list number at the box office from an hour before, and uncollected tickets go back on sale 15 minutes before the start. Several tram and bus lines stop on the Leidseplein, and metro station Vijzelgracht is about ten minutes' walk. Mobility scooters are not allowed in the halls, but you can borrow a wheelchair inside the building. Wireless hearing support is available at the desk in the info hall.