“Austrian Literary Theatre”: Marie Rötzer about her plans…

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From the 2026/27 season onwards, Marie Rötzer, who’s presently the director of the Decrease Austrian State Theater, will handle the Vienna Theater in der Josefstadt, along with Stefan Mehrens, who shall be in control of the industrial administration. She’s going to give attention to Austrian literature. However she needs to make the Kammerspiele the “Broadway theater of Vienna”.

Marie Rötzer, profitable director of the Decrease Austrian State Theater, will take over the inventive route of the Theater in der Josefstadt from the 2026/27 season. Which means that Viennese theatergoers can anticipate modifications in management on the metropolis’s three largest spoken-word theaters yearly: Jan Philipp Gloger, presently on the Nuremberg State Theater, will lead the Volkstheater in autumn 2025, and Stefan Bachmann will begin the Burgtheater. this September.

So now Marie Rötzer joins us. She had already utilized to the Burgtheater and the Volkstheater. This particularly appeared like a logical alternative. In the end, Rötzer made the theater in St. Pölten is an effective different to the Volkstheater, which has been run by Kay Voges since 2020 with a program that will be extra appropriate for smaller theaters, such because the Schauspielhaus Wien. Certainly, many theatergoers have discovered the night prepare hyperlink to St. Pölten.

The Theater is in der Josefstadt, the place the director Herbert Föttinger performed frequently at Turrini, but in addition organized a robust political drama in regards to the interwar interval with “Residing and Dying in Vienna” which might have been attributed to the theater former social democrat nation, at At. at the moment, many disillusioned theatergoers took up the theater course. Now, in fact, the query is: How will the 2 theaters share the theater viewers, which has continued to shrink through the Crown interval? Will additionally they come to phrases with the Burgtheater – and if that’s the case, how?

“Not three fists on the similar time”

“We will certainly not torture the Viennese viewers with three fists on the similar time,” Rötzer promised throughout his efficiency on the Josefstadt rehearsal stage. She sees no downside in dividing the viewers and there may be positive to be settlement. “The great factor is that I do know my colleagues.” She even labored with Gloger in Mainz. The Secretary of State for Tradition Andrea Mayer additionally believes in a very good collaboration between Bachmann/Gloger/Rötzer, in any case, all three are “leaders within the trendy sense”. (When she says one thing like that, it comes naturally with the data that the Burgtheater director Martin Kušej, for instance, who left reluctantly, appeared monomaniacal compared.)

To lift the profile of the theater in Josefstadt, Rötzer described it because the “literary theater of Austria” and talked about the names Raimund, Nestroy, Schnitzler and Hofmannsthal. She depends on the “narrative theater of Austria”, however may even look past the nation’s borders, particularly mentioning “nations with a connection to the kk previous”. She gained expertise as a curator for the theater biennale “New Items from Europe”. As in St. Pölten, she needs to carry worldwide visitor performances to Josefstadt. State Secretary Mayer gave the adjective “cautious” to this opening and emphasised the “robust Austrian and Viennese custom” that have to be preserved in Josefstadt. Veronica Kaup-Hasler, Vienna Metropolis Councilor for Tradition, spoke about “a particular give attention to the literary content material” and about inserting the textual content on the heart of the occasion.

Like Volkstheater nominee Jan Philipp Gloger, Rötzer emphasised how vital the ensemble was to her. The distinction is evident: Though Gloger must consolidate his ensemble first – quite a bit got here from Dortmund with Kay Voges in 2020 and can most likely go to Cologne with him – Josefstadt really has quite a lot of viewers favourites, which form his some characters the character of the home. Rötzer is aware of why she recommends this ensemble extensively. And he or she additionally understands why she respects the “loyal subscribers”.

David Payer

“References to the wild Nineteen Twenties”

She needs to maintain the custom of premieres and premieres established by Föttinger, which Rötzer talked about respectfully a number of occasions. Nevertheless, she is planning a change for the Kammerspiele, which Föttinger has free of the odor of tabloid humor with items by Ionesco, Brecht, and so forth. She needs to show the small home within the metropolis right into a “Broadway Theater in Vienna”, and spoke of comedy, revival, cabaret, “references to the wild Nineteen Twenties” and “thrilling walks dwelling” via town heart. The truth that she cited “London nightlife” as a mannequin shouldn’t be taken actually: In spite of everything, in London, even in Soho, the curfews are a lot stricter than in Vienna and even in St. Pölten…

Josefstadt Administrators: From Max Reinhardt to Marie Rötzer

The Theater in der Josefstadt can look again on over 200 years of historical past. In 1788, Karl Mayer, son-in-law of the tavern “Bey den goldenen Straussen” constructed the primary theater constructing within the backyard of the inn on Kaisergasse (right this moment: Josefstädter Straße) – right this moment the oldest constantly working theater establishment in Vienna.

In 1822, the well-known Biedermeier architect, Josef Kornhäusl, supervised the development of the brand new theater, which was now too small. In 1834 the “Sträußel Saal” was opened as a ballroom the place Johann Strauß Vater and Lanner frequently performed for dances.

Josef Jarno was the director of the home from 1899 to 1923. The Max Reinhardt period on the Theater in der Josefstadt started on April 1, 1924 with Goldoni’s “Servant of Two Masters,” which introduced collectively an exquisite ensemble of artists together with a household Thimig, Gustaf Gründgens and Hans Moser. Later Josefstadt administrators embody Otto Schenk (from 1988 to 1997) and Helmuth Lohner (with a break from 1997 to 2006). Herbert Föttinger took over the administration in 2006; He shall be retiring from his place in 2026 after twenty years.

In his newest press convention, Herbert Föttinger described the decrease public funding for the Josefstadt in comparison with the Volkstheater as “full impudence”. After all, the newly appointed Rötzer and the chairman of the board of trustees, Thomas Drozda, didn’t wish to agree with this, who admitted firstly: “It was simpler and extra pure to do theater.” This made Rötzer glad about Rötzer’s The appointment appears to be extra critical for him and the Metropolis Councilor for Tradition Kaup -Hasler and the Secretary of State Andrea Mayer, who represents the 2 subsidy suppliers, town and the federal authorities.

The search committee – with board members of the Drozda basis, Johanna Rachinger (Nationwide Library) and Eva Schiessl-Foggensteiner (BFI) in addition to Karin Bergmann (Gmunden Competition) and Lotte de Beer (Individuals’s Opera) – determined unanimously in favor Rötzer. The choice was additionally made unanimously for Stefan Mehrens, who may even begin as industrial director in September 2026. He’s from Oldenburg and studied enterprise administration and theater research in Berlin.

Mehrens is not going to have to incorporate the third heart (“Josefstadt-Field”) deliberate by Herbert Föttinger in his price range. She was “very pleased with each levels,” Rötzer defined. And he or she is trying ahead to an “intense dialogue” with Föttinger.

The inventive directorship of the Decrease Austrian State Theatre, which shall be vacant from the 2026/27 season, shall be introduced in September 2024.

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