Arlequin theater
The Arlequin Theater is a Viennese puppet theater.
The Arlequin Theater was founded in 1957 as a “thread stage in the artist house” by Arminio Rothstein and his first wife Picca Rothstein. With only 30, later 50 seats, the Fadenbühne was considered the most avant-garde theater in Vienna. It was played exclusively for adults, such as works by Hugo von Hofmannsthal .
The "Arlequin Theater in Café Mozart at the Opera " was founded by Arminio Rothstein ("Clown Habakuk") and his second wife Lena Rothstein (70 seats) and opened on March 16, 1967. Gordana Krobath-Rothstein, his third wife, was already a member of the ensemble. The opening premiere was Lumpazivagabundus by Johann Nestroy .
On stage people and puppets appeared equally next to each other.
1970 was Threepenny Opera by Bertolt Brecht and Kurt Weill premiered, with 21 puppets and stick puppets three, out of seven, spoke of nine people ( Fritz Muliar , Nicolaus Paryla , Kurt Sowinetz et al.).
In 1971 Bert Brecht's play The Rise and Fall of the City of Mahagonny premiered in the Arlequin Theater . A performance was played exclusively for Lotte Lenya on February 16, 1973 .
During the Wiener Festwochen 1983 the Threepenny Opera will be performed again.
The theater also became known for its cabaret revues, for which Arminio Rothstein made portrait puppets, for example by Helmut Zilk , Gerhard Bronner , Peter Wehle , Karl Farkas , Ernst Waldbrunn , Bruno Kreisky , Arik Brauer , Helmut Qualtinger , Josef Taus , Konrad Adenauer , Hans Moser , Brigitte Bardot , Hans Albers , Hans Krankl , Heinz Zuber , Georg Kreisler , Anton Benya , André Heller , Fred Sinowatz , Kuno Knöbl , Niki Lauda , Marcel Prawy , Gottfried Kumpf , Norbert Pawlicki , Elvis Presley , Mick Jagger , Jerry Hall , Ernst Wolfram Marboe , Karl Valentin , Albert Einstein .
Kasperl plays have also been performed in the Arlequin Theater since 1971 . The first puppeteers (besides Arminio and Gordana Rothstein) were Johann Gramm, Wolfgang Artner, Walter Hoffmann.
1979 began in the Arlequin Theater clown Habakuk's puppet circus with goose Mimi, Zwerg Bumsti u. a.
Puppeteers in the Arlequin Theater were and are Thomas Brezina (until 1984), Dr. Magda Brezina (since 1982) and Dr. Andreas Brezina (since 1980), Evi Zabransky, DI Gerald Meloun (since 1983), Dr. Ferdinand Resch (until 1984), Susi Keil (since 1988), Alfred Schwarz (since 1984), Markus Mitterhuber (since 1997). Since 1966 Manfred Körner worked artistically in the Arlequin Theater.
Some characters are spoken by actors, for example Hubert Tscheppe (Tintifax), Stefan Fleming (Kasperl).
The "Arlequin Theater in Café Mozart at the Opera" was closed in 1984. However, the Arlequin Theater continues to exist as an independent puppet theater group without its own house.
Since the death of Arminio Rothstein in 1994, his fourth wife Christine Rothstein has been running the theater.
In 2016, the puppeteers of the Arlequin Theater gave a look behind the scenes of their stage in a documentary about the late theater founder Arminio Rothstein.
documentary
- ORF legends: Arminio Rothstein. The colorful life of the clown Habakuk. Documentary (45 min.), A 2016, written and directed by Christian Hager.