Vienna theatres launch season with classics and premieres

Vienna’s major spoken-theatre venues are opening their new season with classics, contemporary works and premieres, ORF reports. The Theater in der Josefstadt is also starting a new era under its first female artistic director in around 200 years, while a new venue for small-scale performances is opening in Alsergrund.

The summer break is ending, with the city’s stages reopening from early September. Works by William Shakespeare and Georg Büchner are among the productions premiering at the start of the season.

New leadership at the Josefstadt

The first premiere of the season is Arthur Schnitzler’s Komödie der Verführung at the Theater in der Josefstadt on September 3. Ildikó Gáspár has adapted and directed the production.

Set in the summer of 1914, the play follows a game of seduction, deception and self-deception unfolding at a masked ball against the backdrop of the approaching First World War. Peter Turrini’s Der tollste Tag, directed by Anna Stiepani, follows at the Kammerspiele on September 5.

Marie Rötzer is taking over as artistic director of the Josefstadt, becoming the first woman to hold the position in around 200 years. Stefan Mehrens is the theatre’s new managing director. Rötzer plans to develop the traditional institution further and open it more strongly to new perspectives and international cooperation.

Theatre festival offers behind-the-scenes access

The Theater in der Josefstadt and the Kammerspiele will hold their first joint theatre festival on September 12. The programme includes stage and backstage tours, technology demonstrations, short dramatic performances and readings.

Visitors will also be able to take part in speed dating with the theatres’ artists and staff. A props exhibition, a costume sale, children’s theatre, a theatre-mask workshop, photo stations with costumes and props, and a prize wheel are planned. Admission is free.

Jelinek, Merlin and Sisi at the Burgtheater

The Burgtheater is beginning its season with several premieres. The first is Elfriede Jelinek’s Unter Tieren on September 4, a cooperation between the Burgtheater and the Salzburg Festival. Directed by Nicolas Stemann, the production examines human society, especially the mechanisms of capitalism, from the perspectives of different animals.

A bear, cow, rat, pig, badger, dolphin and pigeon follow the trail of money from the Bible to recent Austrian economic and political stories.

On September 5, the Akademietheater will stage Merlin oder das wüste Land by Tankred Dorst and Ursula Ehler, directed by Antú Romero Nunes. The play centres on the wizard Merlin, who is destined to lead humanity towards evil but instead helps Arthur become king and establish the Round Table as a symbol of equality and justice.

That utopia is destabilised by power struggles, betrayal and affairs. Using the Arthurian legend, the play also explores the failure of utopias and the search for goodness.

The Burgtheater will present the premiere of Elisabeth! on September 10, based on Mareike Fallwickl’s novel. The title character reflects on her life as empress and her role as an icon that is still marketed today. Fallwickl’s perspective on the famous Sisi links the historical figure with a modern viewpoint.

Shakespeare’s witches at the Volkstheater

The Volkstheater will open its new season with Macbeth: The Witches’ Game on September 10, directed by resident director Rieke Süßkow. The production combines Shakespeare’s drama about ambition and the pursuit of power with elements of character and object theatre, as well as the aesthetics of online gaming.

Woyzeck by Georg Büchner follows on September 18. Mechthild Harnischmacher’s production will premiere at the VZ Brigittenau before touring Vienna’s districts until October 22.

Elfriede Jelinek’s Die Ankunft, directed by Volkstheater director Jan Philipp Gloger, is scheduled for September 26. The family production Die kleine Hexe, based on Otfried Preußler’s book, will premiere on September 27 at the Dunkelkammer on Arthur-Schnitzler-Platz before touring the districts.