Kasper Holten will step down as director of the Royal Danish Theatre at the end of August 2027, closing 20 years in the institution’s management.
DR reports that Holten elaborated on the decision in an interview with the radio program P1 Morgen. He said it is probably healthy for both himself and the theater that he is able to let go.
Holten has held the post of theater director since 2018. Before that he was opera director at the Royal Opera House in London, and earlier spent more than ten years as opera chief at Det Kongelige Teater, where he led the opening of the Operaen on Holmen in Copenhagen.
During his time as director, the theater and its ballet school have been criticized in cases involving harassment and a toxic work environment, according to DR. Radio4 has reported that 139 employees said they had experienced harassment at the Royal Danish Theatre.
DR has also reported on accounts of poor wellbeing among students at the Royal Danish Ballet School. Holten said that in his first years as director he was focused on making the theater grow with more and larger productions, and that this came at a price.
Holten acknowledges the pace was too fast
Per DR, Holten said the theater implemented a strong growth strategy across a coronavirus pandemic, and that it moved too quickly. In 2023, he said, that led to many employees suffering overload or stress.
He said that was not acceptable and that he has taken responsibility for it. According to Holten, the balance between a high activity level and staff wellbeing at the theater is far better today, and he is proud of having acted on it.
The departing director would not promise that difficult cases are a thing of the past. He said he can almost guarantee the next applicant that such cases will arise in a house filled with creative people and complex processes.
Holten said he does not yet know what he will do after leaving in September 2027. For now he has a couple of directing assignments in his calendar, and he described himself as open to work in the private sector, at a relief organization, or with feature films.
He added that he might also simply want to sleep for half a year. As reported by DR, the Royal Danish Theatre is beginning a broad recruitment process to ensure that a new director is in place by August 2027.
