Theater board
The theater board is a theater in Vienna (since 1978 as exempt group , from 1984 to 2018 with its own house), which lends itself to the networking of the Czech and Central European , what has made the Viennese theater scene deserves the CENTROPE prize awarded has been. Over a third of the theatre's 150 productions to date have been premieres, mainly of plays by Czech and Austrian authors.
history
The first years as a free group
In 1978 the association Theater Brett - Compagnie Brettschneider was founded as an independent theater group by the Czechoslovak actress Nika Brettschneider (1951–2018) and her husband, the theater maker and philosopher Ludvik Kavin (* 1943). Both had been expelled from Czechoslovakia after signing Charter 77 and had received political asylum in Austria and subsequently also Austrian citizenship on the basis of a diplomatic initiative by Federal Chancellor Bruno Kreisky . The ensemble's first production was The Light of the World by Jiří Kolář . By 1983, a total of 19 different productions had been staged at different venues in Vienna, some as a duo or solo performance by the theater founders, and some with a larger cast. In addition, tours and guest performances have taken place in many European countries and the USA. In 1982, co-theater director Nika Brettschneider was awarded the Kainz Medal for her work .
Opening of the own house in 1983
From 1983 the former Ludwig furniture factory at Münzwardeingasse 2 in Vienna-Mariahilf was adapted for theater purposes and opened on January 24, 1984 under the name Theater Brett as a permanent venue for the ensemble, with the production of The Labyrinth of the World and the Paradise of the Heart according to Jan Amos Comenius . The theater hall holds 99 visitors with standard seating and can be used both as a classic peep-box stage and, thanks to variable stands, in a wide variety of forms as a spatial stage .
Since the company's own theater opened, an average of four to five productions a year have been put out there, which were usually played en suite . There were also guest performances and tours at home and abroad. The directors Brettschneider or Kavin were often personally responsible for the direction, and from 1995 Christoph Prückner joined as the third in-house director . In addition, they worked regularly with guest directors mainly from the Czech Republic, Slovakia and other Central and Eastern European countries, but also from Austria - including Arnošt Goldflam , Jaroslav Gillar , Petr Štindl , Vladimír Kelbl , Jiří Honzírek (all Czech Republic), Martin Porubjak (Slovakia), Milan Vukotic ( Serbia ), Barbara Novakovic ( Slovenia ), András Léner ( Hungary ), Kitty Kino , Peter Hochegger , Lies Kató , Christine Wipplinger , Angelica Schütz (all Austria).
The situation since the theater reform in 1994/95
Theater Brett was also affected by a theater reform in 1994/95 under the City Councilor for Culture Ursula Pasterk , which included, among other things, removing subsidies from a number of Viennese theaters. In contrast to most of these other theaters, the board survived the following years of financial bottleneck without having to close, mainly because during this time the repertoire was played almost exclusively with monodramas (including the Austrian premiere of Thomas Brussig's heroes like us ). After Pasterk's successor took office in the Department of Culture, Peter Marboe , Theater Brett again received subsidies and was able to return to a broader repertoire with a larger ensemble.
Another theater reform in Vienna began in 2003 under Andreas Mailath-Pokorny . Once again, Theater Brett's financial contributions were radically cut. Nevertheless, the theater continued to operate, albeit with reduced funding (smaller ensembles or two-person plays), and the house was increasingly opened to guest productions by other ensembles.
The last few years until the house was closed
An interim increase in subsidies in 2014 and 2015, limited to two years, made it possible to realize a small cycle of world premieres and first performances of four pieces from the four Visegrád countries: 2014 from the Czech Republic dance lessons for older and advanced students by Bohumil Hrabal , Austrian premiere, director : Ivo Krobot, and from Hungary The Fate of Others by Krisztián Grecsó , world premiere, director: András Léner. 2015 then from Poland The womb of Mary Wojtyszko , Austrian premiere, directed by Christoph Prückner, and Slovakia platform of Miloš Karásek German-language premiere, directed by Jiří Honzírek.
After this subsidy expired and was not extended, the savings pen had to be applied again. The last in-house production at Theater Brett with the participation of Nika Brettschneider as an actress was the monodrama Frau auf der Front by Alaine Polcz (director: András Léner) at the end of 2015 , the last in-house production ever in Münzwardeingasse was Behind the Door by Magda Szabó in 2017 (director: again András Léner).
The founder and co-director of the Theater Brett Nika Brettschneider passed away on June 30, 2018 after a serious illness.
At the end of December 2018, the Theater Brett in Münzwardeingasse was closed.
Current situation
Since January 2019, Jakub Kavín, the older son of Nika Brettschneider and Ludvík Kavín, has continued to use the theater under the name Theater Arche .
The theater board itself, embodied by Ludvik Kavin and the younger son of the couple, Luke Kavin, is still active as exempt group.
Central European theater carousel
Since 2005, Theater Brett has been the organizer of the Central European Theater Carousel once a year , a festival that presents current theater productions (from large theaters such as the National Theater in Prague , but also from well-known independent groups and individual performers) primarily from the four Visegrád countries of the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Poland and Hungary, as well as from countries such as Russia and Ukraine, came to Vienna. In addition, international theater workshops were offered.
In 2013, Nika Brettschneider and Ludvik Kavin were awarded the CENTROPE Prize by the City of Vienna (for outstanding achievements in the field of cross-border theater cooperation in Central Europe) for hosting the theater carousel . In 2017 the festival could not be held for the first time due to a lack of financial resources.
Style and dramaturgy
In general, the artistic style of Theater Brett's productions can be described as poetic-realistic . Special emphasis is often placed on form-fitting, pictorial representations, occasionally, especially in the early years of the theater, with elements of physical theater , mime , masque or performance enriched. But classic spoken theater also finds its place. In addition, the means of the poor theater are often used (both for artistic and financial reasons).
Theater Brett's dramaturgical orientation is broad. One of the focal points is dealing with authors from Eastern and Central Europe, some of whom were presented for the first time in German-speaking countries or in Austria, such as Václav Havel , Jiří Kolář, Jaroslav Seifert , Milan Uhde , Bohumil Hrabal , Ladislav Klíma , Pavel Kohout , Karel Hynek Mácha or Arnošt Goldflam from the Czech Republic, Slavomir Mrozek or Maria Wojtyszko from Poland, Magda Szabó or Krisztián Grecsó from Hungary, Fjodor M. Dostojewskij , Anton Chekhov or Daniil Charms from Russia, Drago Jančar from Slovenia, Miro Gavran from Croatia or Miloš Karásek from Slovakia.
Particular emphasis is also placed on Austrian authors, who have often been and are played as premieres or premieres, including Friederike Mayröcker , Ernst Jandl , Peter Handke , Felix Mitterer , Gabriele Kögl , Herbert Berger , Armin Baumgartner , Werner Schwab , Jura Soyfer , Ingeborg Bachmann , Arthur Schnitzler or Ferdinand Raimund .
A specific dramaturgical focus dealt with German-speaking authors from Bohemia and Moravia from 1996 to 2002 - works by Paul Kornfeld , Gustav Meyrink , Leo Perutz , Marie von Ebner-Eschenbach , Christian Heinrich Spieß , Adalbert Stifter , Max Brod , Franz were performed Kafka , Alexander Roda Roda and Hermann Ungar .
They also have a preference for texts and plays from the field of absurd and surrealist theater, including some unknowns, such as by Wassilij Kandinsky , Alfred Jarry , Boris Vian , Jean Cocteau , Pablo Picasso , Guillaume Apollinaire , Romain Weingarten , Samuel Beckett and Eugène Ionesco .
So far, almost 150 productions have been performed on the stage of Theater Brett, including at least 33 world premieres, 19 Austrian or German-language premieres, and 2 Czech-language premieres.
literature
- Ludvík Kavín (ed.): Nika Brettschneider and her theater Brett . Verlag Theater Brett - Compagnie Brettschneider eV, Vienna 2018
- Andrea Buršová: Herečka NIKA BRETTSCHNEIDEROVÁ v exilu aneb Portrét divadla THEATER BRETT do pádu “železné opony” (history of Theater Brett up to 1989, in Czech, with a list of all productions up to 2015 in the appendix). JAMU Publishing House, Brno 2018. ISBN 978-80-7460-149-1 . Available online (as a dissertation under the title Dramatická umění - Portrét divadla Theater Brett do pádu "železné opony" ) here: [1]
- Rainer Darin: Theater Brett . In: Rainer Darin / Günter Seidl: Theater from below: from Artmann to Unger and from Drachengasse to Tschauner, Viennese small and medium-sized theaters and their authors , pp. 110 - 125. Edition S / Verlag der Österreichischen Staatsdruckerei, 1988, ISBN 3-7046-0092-X
Web links
- Website of the theater
- Theater board in the Vienna History Wiki of the City of Vienna
- Entry on Theater Brett in the Austria Forum (in the AEIOU Austria Lexicon )
- Wiener Zeitung about the theater reform
- Portrait of Theater Brett on Ö1