South Carinthian Summer Games Eberndorf

Arcade courtyard of Eberndorf Abbey with spectator stand on the left

The South Carinthian Summer Games have been held annually in July and August in Eberndorf in Carinthia ( Austria ) since 1976 . The open-air stage is located in the courtyard of the former Augustinian Canons' monastery . A spoken theater production, usually a comedy , is performed every year .

history

Founded by Hubert Kummer in 1976, the South Carinthian Summer Games, which initially took place on a modest scale, are now one of the largest and best-known spoken theater festivals in Carinthia.

A total of 42 productions were shown during its 41-year existence; in 1983 two pieces were played. Under Ludwig Skumautz , both specially written pieces were performed (e.g. Die Wolscharträuber , a Carinthian folk tale with a historical background ) as well as well-known and popular classics of junk and tabloid literature such as a joke .

After Skumautz's death in 1987, the actor and director Adi Peichl was responsible. In 1993 he handed over to Jörg Schlaminger , under whose direction the Summer Games recorded their greatest audiences and critics. In his 24 years as artistic director, Schlaminger staged numerous own translations and adaptations of “comedy rarities and specialties”, including very seldom played ancient classics (e.g. Miles Gloriosus von Plautus in 1996 ) and a new rhymed German version of Molière's verse comedy Tartuffe . For the 30th anniversary, the comedy Romulus and the Wild Boar (based on motifs from the two farces Le convenienze teatrali and Le inconvenienze teatrali by Antonio Simeone Sografi ) was shown as a German-language premiere more than 200 years after its creation. In the summer of 2016, Goldoni's comedy The Servant of Two Masters was on the program. Some of the performances took place with the participation of well-known Austrian actors; The two Austrian actresses Tanja Raunig and Kerstin Raunig performed at the beginning of their acting careers at the South Carinthian Summer Games in Eberndorf.

In 2017, Patrick Steinwidder, a graduate of the London Royal Academy of Dramatic Art and Carinthian Culture Promotion Prize winner, took over the artistic direction and direction. Steinwidder played in 2010 in the title role in Stiftshof auditor of Nikolai Gogol .