The Ekhof Theater at Friedenstein Castle is considered to be the oldest baroque theater in the world with still existing and functioning stage machinery. It is located in the west tower of the palace complex. From 1681, the theater was equipped with a world first: the rapid transformation machinery by Milanese stage designer Giacomo Torelli. Initially only accessible to members of the court, the Gotha court theater was opened to the citizens in the 18th century and the duke provided social security for the actors. From 1775, the first German court theater was established here and the Gotha court composer Georg Anton Benda "invented" the melodrama. Among them: Conrad Ekhof, the "father of German drama" and contemporary of Goethe, unjustly forgotten, and one of his most famous pupils, August Wilhelm Iffland.