Fontane's Theater Critiques - for the first time fully edited and commented. The approximately 650 theater critiques he wrote between 1870 and 1894 provide a condensed image of the journalist Fontane, an important facet of his work. Particularly striking is the modernity of his views and texts, which trace the development from Wilhelmine to naturalistic theater. When he follows the performances of the leading stage in Berlin at the Royal Theater on Gendarmenmarkt for the liberal Vossische Zeitung, he primarily aims to entertain his readers: with wordplay and wit, he evaluates the play, subject, and actors in his characteristic conversational tone. The research-based commentary elucidates the connections and evaluates, among other things, his previously unknown notebooks. Great Brandenburg Edition: Volume 1. Critiques 1870-1877 / Volume 2. Critiques 1878-1882.