Art Carnuntum brings Faust, Iphigenia and Othello to amphitheatre

Art Carnuntum, a world theatre festival in Lower Austria, opens on Friday with Herr Teufel Faust, ORF reports. The festival will also present Iphigenie in Aulis and Othello before closing on September 6.

The Goethe solo performance, developed with Torsten Fischer in 2024, will bring theatre star Dominique Horwitz, known for The Black Rider, to the amphitheatre. Its central questions are how many devils people carry within themselves and what price they would pay to fulfil their dreams, even knowing that this may not bring happiness, Horwitz said.

Iphigenie in Aulis by Euripides will premiere at the amphitheatre on August 28. The ancient drama will be performed in Greek by the theatre group Point Zero under the direction of Savvas Stroumpos.

The festival will conclude with William Shakespeare’s Othello, presented from September 4 by the British group The Lord Chamberlain’s Men, which is returning to Carnuntum. The group said its performance, following the tradition of Elizabethan theatre, creates a lively and direct approach to Shakespeare.

Bus transfers to and from the Vienna State Opera will be available. The festival has focused on Europe’s philosophical cultural heritage since 1989. Constantina Bordin, daughter of founder Piero Bordin, has led it since 2021.