Anyone who said “castle” to Burgtheater director Martin Kusej, who was leaving at the end of the season, paid a fine. For his successor Stefan Bachmann it is now called BURG – as a collective term for all of the institution’s venues: Burgtheater, Akademietheater, Casino (closed for a full season due to renovation and replaced by a virtual and a mobile stage) and vestibule, as well as for “ensemble, communities, Concerts, workshops and the audience,” as it says in the 2024/25 program book presented yesterday – “despite the misunderstanding that a castle consists of impenetrable walls.” “The BURG is open, playful, contradictory and a space for changing perspectives. The BURG has space for classics, premieres, family pieces, Austrian and musical pieces,” it says. “It’s regarding bringing this term into play productively,” said Bachmann. “It’s an ambivalent term: a castle that doesn’t exclude but includes, that invites, that is inclusive.”
14 premieres in the Burgtheater, ten in the Akademietheater, four in the vestibule and one digital project: these are the figures for Bachmann’s first season. Two female directors are opening: Karin Henkel, who most recently directed “Liebe (Amour)” based on Michael Haneke’s film at the Salzburg Festival, is bringing “Hamlet” to the Burgtheater (September 5th). And the Swede Therese Willstedt is designing Virginia Woolf’s “Orlando” for the Academy Theater (September 7th). As a festival co-production, Milo Rau directs Jelinek’s “Burgtheater” in the eponymous house. Jelinek’s play, which uses the Wessely/Hörbiger acting dynasty to address Austria’s shared responsibility for National Socialism, was scandalized when it premiered in Bonn in 1985. Since then, the author has only given a performance permit in Austria: in 2005 for the Graz Theater im Bahnhof. With the dramatization of Thomas Bernhard’s novel “Woodfelling” in an evening initiated by Nicholas Ofczarek at the Musicbanda Franui, another former cultural scandal is being dealt with.
Strutzenberger changes
There is also music in Zweig’s “Schachnovelle” or in the adaptation of Sibylle Berg’s novel “Thank You for Life.” There are also novel dramatizations of “Everything is Enlightened” by Jonathan Safran Foer and “The Vegetarian” by Han Kang. A total of five productions from Schauspiel Köln, Bachmann’s previous place of work, will be taken over – three of them directed by the new boss, who is also responsible for two academy theater projects: “Manhattan Project” by Stefano Massini and “The Root of Being” by Wajdi Mouawad.
Thiemo Strutzenberger, who comes from Kirchdorf an der Krems, and Franziska Hackl from Vienna are moving from the Residenztheater in Munich to Vienna. The Upper Austrians Marie-Luise Stockinger, Julia Windischbauer and Birgit Minichmayr remain in the ensemble. Ten actors are moving from Cologne to Vienna. Bachmann: “It’s regarding diversity, regarding different offerings – as a response to trends that aim for rigidity and try to attack the colorful and playful.” In a democracy there are opportunities for “undogmatic, playful ways of being political” and, fortunately, there are also spaces for them.
