Elfriede Jelinek’s controversial play Burgtheater will be performed in Vienna for the first time – in a treatment by Milo Rau and the Burgtheater company. Milo Rau is staging the satire about Austria’s Nazi ties, narrated at hand of a renowned family of actors, at Burgtheater itself. Thus it emerges that Burgtheater is not only one of the great legends of theatre history but also a prophetic vision of the current political situation.
’If it’s performed in Vienna, it will surely be the greatest theatre scandal of the Second Republic!’ When Elfriede Jelinek announced her ‘wicked farce with song’ in 1981, not even she had an idea that Burgtheater would cast her in the role of ‘Nestbeschmutzerin’, a traitor fouling her own nest. The satire deals with Austria’s Nazi ties, narrated at hand of a renowned family of actors. Swiss director Milo Rau, to whom Jelinek has now granted exclusive rights for a late premiere at Burgtheater, considers this narrative just the starting point. He takes a look at Austrian society: what is our relationship to fascism and collaboration? And how does the theatre – specifically the Burgtheater – figure in that?
Direction Milo Rau By and with Elfriede Jelinek With Mavie Hörbiger, Annamária Láng, Birgit Minichmayr, Caroline Peters, Safira Robens, Itay Tiran, Tilman Tuppy, Maja Karolina Franke, Alla Kipermann and Willfried Kovárnik Live Camera Eduardo Triviño Cely, Andrea Gabriel, Mariano Margarit Stage design Anton Lukas Costumes Cedric Mpaka Music Elia Rediger Video Moritz von Dungern Light design Reinhard Traub Dramaturgy Claus Philipp Sound installation Ludwig Klossek Sound technician Barbara Huber Video installation Florian Dolzer, Victoria Aichhorn Direction assistance Nastasia Griese, Claus Nicolai Six Stage production support Claudia Vallant Costumes assistance Marie Therese Fritz, Lino Pflug Intern direction Merle Proll Intern stage design August Eckmann Intern costumes Jannik Haller Dramaturgical assistance Markus Edelmann Assistant directing traineeship Valerian Zimmermann Stage management Dagmar Zach Prompter Barbara Emilia Dauer
Production Burgtheater Coproduction Vienna Festival (Festwochen) | Free Republic of Vienna) World premiere May 2025, Vienna Festival (Festwochen) | Free Republic of Vienna
The performances in Vienna are supported by Dorotheum.
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