Hin and Weg festival opens with 130 events in Litschau

The Hin & Weg contemporary theatre festival has opened in Litschau, Lower Austria, with around 130 events under the theme “Guilt and Beauty,” ORF reported. The programme includes up to 10 events a day at venues ranging from a theatre and a former brewery to outdoor locations and unusual sites around the town.

The festival features performances, including premieres and first performances, staged readings, radio plays and discussions. Events are being held at the Herrenseetheater, the MOMENT theatre house, the BRAUHAUSstadl, in the countryside and at other locations in and around Litschau.

“We play in a laundrette, an old bakery, a petrol station or a bar. I have even performed in the slaughter room of a butcher’s shop,” said Katharina Stemberger, an actor and head of the festival’s theatre division.

Stemberger said the theme reflected the festival’s aim of looking closely at the world. “When you look around the world, you discover a great deal of beauty, but also a great deal of guilt,” she said, adding that there was also “a great deal of madness.”

International students take part

Festival director Zeno Stanek said the event also gives young international artists an opportunity to perform. The festival is working with the Music and Arts University in Vienna, the Max Reinhardt Seminar, the Ernst Busch Academy of Dramatic Art in Berlin and, for the first time this year, the Bruckner Conservatory in Linz.

The evening music programme is intended to accompany audiences into the night after the theatre performances. Singer-songwriter Sigrid Horn from the Mostviertel, who is responsible for the music programme, will create a special music evening together with composer in residence Flora Geißelbrecht.

The festival runs in Litschau until Sunday, August 16.