Shakespeare in Styria

Julius Caesar by William Shakespeare in Murau, 2014

Shakespeare in Styria , also known as European Shakespeare Days , was an annual Shakespeare festival in the Upper Styrian city of Murau in Austria , in which young actors from all over Europe took part. The festival was founded in 2002 by UK-born theater manager Nicholas Allen and Austrian journalist Rudolph J. Wojta .

Since September 2015 the festival has been led by Paul Elsbacher (artistic director) and Eric Lomas (artistic director) under the new name Shakespeare im Park . In the summer of 2016 a highly acclaimed production came from The Comedy of Errors in the pen St. Lambrecht for performance, followed by a stint in the gardens of Castle Pötzleinsdorf in Vienna . In 2018 the play "Much Ado About Nothing" was performed.

history

Every summer, Shakespeare staged an open-air performance of a Shakespeare play in Styria in the picturesque setting of the Noric Alps , mostly combined with concerts, lectures and readings. The project began modestly as a workshop and training program for young actors from all over Europe and has become increasingly professional over the years. It was played in English until 2011 and in German since 2013. In 2007 the English director Daniel Winder took over the artistic direction of Nicholas Allen . He was succeeded in 2011 by another English director, Sean Aita . From 2013 to 2015, the direction was in the hands of Nicholas Allen and the American fencing teacher and actress Roberta Brown . In the early years of the festival, the stage sets were designed by co-founder Rudolph J. Wojta, Maria Krebs worked as a costume designer and tailor for the festival from 2002 to 2006.

A number of experienced English-speaking actors took on the role of actor-in-residence and passed their knowledge and skills on to the next generation. The festival is seen as a stepping stone for careers in film and on stage. The Macbeth production of 2009 was the starting point for the film The Tragedy of Macbeth , with the same main actors as the Murau production - Marek Oravec and Hannah Taylor-Gordon . The team won awards for Best Film, Best Actor and Best Director at the LA INDIE Film Festival in Los Angeles. In 2010 and 2011 the Englishman Ben Crystal and the Irish Damien Molony could be seen in Murau.

During the first four seasons the performances took place in the festival hall of the city of Murau. From 2006 onwards, games were played in the courtyard of Murau Castle , which has been owned by the Schwarzenberg family since 1670 . The head of the family has been Karel Schwarzenberg , the former Czech Foreign Minister , since 1986 . His wife, Theresia Schwarzenberg, b. zu Hardegg auf Glatz and in Machlande, served as the festival's president until 2013. The doyenne of the Vienna Burgtheater , Annemarie Düringer , took over the patronage from 2004 until her death in 2014. She also gave readings during the festival.

Julius Caesar

Shakespeare in Styria 2014, directed by Nicholas Allen and Roberta Brown

In 2013 the festival was restructured, from that point on the performances took place in the Günther Domenig Pavilion in the Stadtpark, in German, in order to appeal to a wider audience. From summer 2016, the festival found a new home in the St. Lambrecht Benedictine Abbey , 14 km from Murau.