THE BEST PIECE EVER – 75 Years Vienna Festival
Milo Rau
‘Beauty and Scandal are two sisters separated at birth. With the Vienna Festival, we are bringing them back together.‘ (Milo Rau)
From faeces performances to gory theatre worship, from fantastic canonical evenings to immersive nightmares, from a Lipizzaner stallion to the spirit of Luc Bondy, from the grand dames of theatre to Christoph Schlingensief, THE BEST PIECE EVER is a revue featuring the highlights of the Vienna Festival’s 75-year history that is as deeply touching as it is mad! All of Vienna, the entire world, the dead and the living will get together for what will surely be the craziest theatre evening ever, looking back on memories, obsessions and dark secrets. And, most importantly, we want to recount THE BEST PIECE EVER together with YOU! Because the Vienna Festival is all of us! You are the only one who knows THE BEST PIECE EVER. Tell us about it – until the theatre police comes to call!
We are looking for people from Vienna to complete the cast on stage.
WE ARE LOOKING FOR:
- Were you there yourself at one of the first openings of the Vienna Festival in the 1950s (possibly when you were still a child) and want to tell us and the audience what you remember from then and other Festival visits?
- Were you on stage during the production of Peter Handke’s The Hour We Knew Nothing of Each Other (1992, directed by Claus Peymann) and want to tell us about it?
- Are you religious and have been deeply injured in your faith by one (or more) Vienna Festival plays and filled with anger and ire? Maybe you even demonstrated against it? Tell us about it!
- Have you been working for the Vienna Festival for a long time – as a fire safety officer, in audience service, as a theatre medic, etc.? Have you seen many plays yourself, experienced unbelievable and strange stories on or behind the stage and do you desperately want to tell us about them?
- Are you elderly, possibly seriously ill and do you want to fulfil your wish to be on a theatre stage for one final (or first) time?
- Are you a determined critic of the Vienna Festival – be that in a professional capacity (as a critic at a major newspaper or a blog) or privately, for political reasons, or because you think the Vienna Festival is an elitist, superfluous waste of tax money?
- Have you previously contributed to a Vienna Festival production as an extra and do you feel like re-enacting your role from then in the piece?
- You enjoy singing, are living with a disability, and would like to take part in our amateur stage choir?
- You are over 80 years old, love to sing, and would like to become part of our amateur stage choir?
- You took part in Christoph Schlingensief’s container project “Please Love Austria!” in the year 2000 – as a candidate, extra, or protester – and would like to share your experiences on stage?
- You are a man over 40 years old, identify as Black / a Person of Color, and would like to portray a saint in the production?
As the play includes several musical interludes, preference will be given to people who have some singing experience or at least a desire to discover their vocal abilities as part of a stage choir.
IMPORTANT PARTICIPANT INFORMATION:
- The castings take place in Vienna on 18 & 19 November 2025. The venue is accessible via a stair lift.
- Times: 10 rehearsals and a series of performances to take place in May 2026 during the Vienna Festival
- The rehearsals take place in the months March to May and can partly be scheduled flexibly
- Possible working languages: German, English, French
- Stage experience is not required
- The opening night and performances take place in May 2026 at Halle E at MuseumsQuartier. The venue has barrier-free access.
- Rehearsals and performances will be paid according to time and effort as well as role (some positions are speaking roles, some are extras)
- As there are plans for a TV documentary about the play, some of the casting process, rehearsals and performances will be filmed.
Please send a motivation letter as well as a CV with your photo to casting@festwochen.at by 16 November 2025.
