Rabenhof Theater

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The Rabenhof Theater in the ensemble of the municipal building of the same name (2014)

The Rabenhof Theater is a theater in the 3rd district of Vienna, Landstrasse , Rabengasse 3.

history

Rabenhof Theater, 2010
Auditorium, 2019

The Rabenhof Theater is located in the middle of the municipal housing complex of the same name in the third district of Vienna. Since the construction of this social housing between 1925 and 1928, the rooms of the current theater have gone through several stages and changes.

Initially planned as a day nursery as well as a community and event location for the residents of the community building, the premises were later converted into a commercially used cinema, which remained in place until 1971.

After the cinema was closed due to insufficient occupancy and strong competition, the rooms remained practically unused for over ten years. It was not until the takeover by the Theater in der Josefstadt in 1988 and the establishment as a third venue that a regular cultural scene returned. Under the Josefstadt directors Otto Schenk and Robert Jungbluth , the former cinema was converted into a theater hall with 300 seats.

After the theater in der Josefstadt ran into considerable financial difficulties at the beginning of this millennium, various savings had to be made - including the closure of the third venue.

Towards the end of 2000, the “Association of Friends and Patrons of the Rabenhof Theater” took over the premises under the chairmanship of the Viennese theater maker Karl Welunschek. The theater opened on December 31, 2000. From that point on, the Rabenhof Theater was an independent stage.

In the summer of 2003 Thomas Gratzer finally took over the theater, which initiated an artistic as well as a commercial restart of the house. Since then, the Rabenhof Theater has become a fixed point in the Austrian theater landscape.

architecture

Light installation in the foyer, 2019

In 1934 the previous festival hall was converted into a cinema. For this purpose, the viewing axis in the hall was rotated by 180 °, a demonstration room was added and the hall entrance concept was adapted to the new needs and retained to this day. The former projection room now houses the light, sound and video technology of the theater. The main stairs, the foyer and the break areas were designed expressionistically with wine-red and yellow tile bands. Until 2008, this wall cladding was hidden behind plasterboard cladding.

During the repair and renovation work carried out in summer 2008, in cooperation with the Austrian Federal Monuments Office, the panels were removed and the tiles repaired by a ceramic restorer. The handrails and chimney cladding made of brass, "in the style of the late Wiener Werkstätte", were also repaired. The lighting concept in the entire public area was renewed, especially in the foyer, where the coffered ceiling, equipped with opaque glass, reminds of its original function as a skylight through a controllable LED system.

In September 2008 the theater was reopened as "the most beautiful Viennese urinal of the 1920s", according to Stermann & Grissemann at the ceremony. The work, led by the architect Peter Achhorner, was awarded the “Monument of the Month” by the Austrian Federal Monuments Office in November 2008.

The program and artistic concept

Ernst Moldens Häuserl am Oasch (2010)
Viennese workers singer, gala concert on the occasion of 125 years of ÖASB (2016)

The program of the Rabenhof Theater is diverse and includes a large number of divergent and often original theater forms.

“The spectrum ranges from literary evenings to children's theater, drama, musicals and baroque operas. International literary stars can be found on the program as well as the stars of the local theater, cabaret and film & television scene. Likewise, “newcomers” also have the chance to reach a broader audience for the first time in the municipal building theater. An essential element is the contemporary political satire, which is cultivated in the most diverse forms in the Rabenhof. A number of national and international nominations and awards testify to the artistic innovation of the Rabenhof Theater. "

The theater is designed as a classic repertoire company that has developed and encompassed a very heterogeneous mixture of performances over the years.

Hardly any restrictions can be found on the formal level. From staged readings to puppet theater, from one-person plays to musicals, the diverse approaches to implementing stage texts are in any case an essential characteristic of the Rabenhof Theater.

In terms of content, the strong reference to Austrian topics and worlds should be emphasized. Many plays are about stories that are located in Austria, mostly even in Vienna. These are places with a typical Viennese identity and mentality. In the pieces, the Wienerwald ( Häuserl am Oasch ) is just as much a place of action as the municipal housing ( Iba de gaunz oamen Leit ) or the cemetery of the nameless ( Port of Vienna ). They are concrete locations with a high recognition, association and belonging value - directly from the recipient's environment. The attempt is therefore made to generate closeness to the audience and their environment, to tell stories from real life and with regard to the local environment.

In addition to the positioning of the pieces, the acting characters are an essential part of the Viennese identity. Figures and professional groups, which are particularly associated with Vienna, regularly find their way onto the Rabenhof stage. Grumpy caretakers, unfriendly sausage stand operators, lethargic officials and unemployed alcoholics, all of them representatives of a lower and middle class. Examples of this include the productions Kottan Determined, Cordoba and Request Concert. But the increasing precariousness of the middle class has recently been a topic, as in the musical theater Viel Gut essen by Sibylle Berg with Kreisky .

Consequently, the Viennese idiom is represented in several facets. Many productions at the Rabenhof Theater use the Viennese dialect. Language is therefore another essential element that suggests a closeness to the real environment of the recipient and tries to address them more directly.

Another essential thematic constant of Thomas Gratzer’s time as director is the satirical examination of the political conditions of today. Austrian domestic politics is regularly discussed in a wide variety of ways. Examples of this are the political puppet shows with maschek . ( With Faymann, Bye, Bye, Austria etc.) as well as many different show formats by and with Florian Scheuba ( presumption of innocence, friendship, we state artists etc.).

Since 2017, a new thematic focus has been set - British contemporary theater. Three selected productions of the Edinburgh Festival Fringe were invited to Vienna under the title Fringe @ Rabenhof . The Frontier Trilogy by Jethro Compton, Am I Dead Yet? by Jon Spooner and Chris Thorpe and What Would Spock Do? by Jon Brittain.

Performing artists and authors

The Slow Club - Epilog (2019)
Rabenhof Theater (2019)

The list of people appearing at the Rabenhof includes many well-known names from the Austrian and German-speaking entertainment scene. Stermann and Grissemann, Andreas Vitasék , Austrofred , Florian Scheuba and Robert Palfrader have been an integral part of the Rabenhof program for many years.

Many artists and formations were developed in the Rabenhof, or had their first major appearances here (maschek., Science Busters , Wir Staatskünstler etc.)

In addition, the cast lists for the individual productions also include many theater, film and television actors such as Ursula Strauss , Manuel Rubey , Gregor Seberg , Heribert Sasse , Erwin Steinhauer , Eva Maria Marold , Adele Neuhauser , Ingrid Burkhard , etc. v. a.

There are also various bands and musicians who have performed both in concerts and in theater productions, e.g. E.g .: Ernst Molden , GUSTAV , Wolfgang Schlögl , Rainer von Many , Rammelhof , The Trojan Horse and Voodoo Jürgens .

National and international authors regularly appear in the Rabenhof under the title Literatursalon im Gemeindebau and read from their current literary works. The palette of writers ranges from Nick Hornby to TC Boyle , Sven Regener , Max Goldt , Heinz Strunk , Sibylle Berg, Vea Kaiser , Thomas Glavinic and Jonathan Franzen .

The protest song contest , co-organized by the radio station FM4 , has also been held here since 2004 .

Awards

Web links

Commons : Rabenhof Theater  - Collection of pictures, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ The most beautiful urinal in Vienna . ( bda.gv.at [accessed June 12, 2018]).
  2. ↑ RABENHOF THEATER. Accessed June 12, 2018 (German).

Coordinates: 48 ° 11 ′ 44 ″  N , 16 ° 24 ′ 5 ″  E