Theaterlust1: Schneesturm – Erfolgreiche Bilanz des Theater- und Tanzfestivals
Press Release
20 February 2009
On 33 dates over the course of six weeks, the festival presented a total of 39 performances of 17 productions. THEATER MANIA 1: SNOW STORM staged 11 Austrian premieres, a German-language premiere and two world premieres. In terms of content, the festival confronted five very topical thematic clusters: politics & war, the nature of truth, migration & integration, social analysis, and showbiz. Of particular political relevance were the productions WISHUPONASTAR, AN ARAB DREAM and TERRITORIES (German-language premiere) that took a variety of different approaches to the Middle East conflict.
One week long, the Linz09 nightline GOOD NIGHT STUFF played Hafenhalle09 with a diversified array of musical formats and brought fascinating live acts to Linz.
The year's first theatrical highlight was staged shortly after the start of Linz’s term as Capital of Culture—the world premiere of THE BOOK OF DISQUIET that ran January 2-4, 2009. This very creative work of musical theater is based on the masterpiece of the same name by Portuguese author Fernando Pessoa. The production was a joint effort of Dutch composer/director Michel van der Aa, film legend Klaus Maria Brandauer and Linz’s Bruckner Orchestra under the direction of Dennis Russell Davies. 1,200 theatergoers attended three sold-out performances that launched the string of triumphs that would be carried on by THEATER MANIA 1: SNOW STORM.
Airan Berg, Linz09’s artistic director of the performing arts, was delighted by the open-mindedness displayed by Linz audiences and the thoroughly positive reception accorded to the performances: “Let’s conclude THEATER MANIA 1: SNOW STORM with a tip of the hat to our audiences, who were curious, open to new experiences, and highly receptive to the great diversity of the languages, forms and content they encountered. The selection and development of precisely these plays took theatergoers along on a dramatic journey that created a sense of identification with the staged works’ substance and gave Linzers a new and enriched view of their own city. We are greatly encouraged to know that—as long as artistic quality is present—there is an audience in Linz for political, intercultural and socially relevant theater.”
A total of 65 reporters representing 43 media outlets covered THEATER MANIA 1: SNOW STORM. Total attendance at the festival was 9,288. Almost half of all performances were sold out. The supplementary offerings went over very well: 11 post-performance audience Q&A sessions and a dance workshop with the CandoCo Dance Company. There will be additional performances of TERRITORIES at the Landestheater over the coming months. Festival organizers are especially pleased about the success of the translation of HELL ON EARTH and ECDYSIS – THE SNAKE SHEDS ITS SKIN into sign language for the deaf and the tremendous audiences response to these to plays. Airan Berg said: “Our collaboration with Linz institutions bodes well for the future. Our joint efforts with the sicht:wechsel integrative festival, Posthof, and Landestheater Linz were fruitful and fulfilling. Attendance at the performances themselves was excellent, as was the reception accorded to the subsequent Q&A sessions with cast members. The translations of selected works into sign language for the deaf opened up the festival to an another community. People were thankful for this opportunity and enthusiastically took advantage of it. Accordingly, we plan to carry it on throughout the year.”
THEATER MANIA 1: SNOW STORM has displayed plenty of international flair, bringing artists from all over the world to Linz and thus presenting theater the likes of which has never been seen here before.
And where do we go from here? Audiences can look forward to THEATER MANIA 2: SUNBURN (July 27 – September 2, 2009) featuring a similarly broad spectrum of languages, forms and content, but with productions staged in public spaces. And thus another invitation addressed to the citizens of the Capital of Culture, and one that Airan Berg hopes will be just as enthusiastically received: “No retrospective without a preview! Naturally, we’re delighted that the demand for tickets to ECDYSIS – THE SNAKE SHEDS ITS SKIN was so great that we had to arrange an additional performance of this play to conclude the festival. We hope that the response to upcoming productions will be just as great. Next, we’re presenting Hubraum’s DIE GEHALTSERHÖHUNG (The Raise in Pay) at Hafenhalle09 as part of the HEIMSPIEL series being staged in cooperation with Posthof Linz, a performance with regional roots by an exceptional local artist, Patrik Huber. Of a more international nature is PURIMSPIL – THE CELEBRATION OF SURVIVAL, a work that was commissioned by Linz09 and will make its world premiere on March 11 in Cembran Keller.
