Thomas Gratzer

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Thomas Gratzer (* 1962 in Krems an der Donau ) is an Austrian author, director and theater director.

Thomas Gratzer (2020)

Artistic career

Thomas Gratzer grew up in Vienna, where he completed an apprenticeship as a waiter between 1977 and 1980 at the Hotel Imperial and Hotel Bristol. Shortly after his admission to the Krauss drama school in the autumn of 1980, he was hired as an acting trainee at the Theater der Jugend Wien , where in the following years - already during his training - he was repeatedly seen in leading roles (the repertoire expanded from Christine Nöstlinger to Molière).

As a result, Gratzer played on various stages in Vienna , such as the Theater an der Wien , the Volkstheater , the Ensemble Theater and the Theater in der Josefstadt .

Gratzer celebrated his breakthrough in 1987 at the ensemble theater with the world premiere of “Madonna and Mike” (directed by Dieter Haspel ). Because of this success he was hired by Otto Schenk at the theater in der Josefstadt.

During Gratzer's time at the Theater in der Josefstadt, the Rabenhof Theater was opened as the third venue in 1990 and Gratzer was already there as an actor at that time. In 1995 he co-produced his successful chamber musical “Cigarettes in Vienna” (starring: Fritz Karl and Tania Golden) for the Rabenhof with the Theater in der Josefstadt , for which he was also responsible as an author and director.

Habsburg recycling

In 1989, Gratzer and his fellow actor Harald Posch (now director of Werk X ) founded the theater troupe “Habsburg Recycling”, which primarily worked with original text collages and thus created a new genre. As a result, a number of extremely successful, but also controversial theater productions were realized. The satirical production “Dear Boy Scouts” with original texts by Austrian Federal Presidents was broadcast by ORF and toured Austria in the following years.

For the church-critical theater productions "Habsburg Recyclings cheerful X-Nacht" and "Neuevangelisierungstour 93", which dealt ironically with the role of the church in society, state and history, a court case was opened against Gratzer and Posch, which after almost five years Trial duration and two acquittals 1998 ended in last instance with a conviction for §188 (degradation of religious teachings). Important artistic colleagues of this time were off-scene guru Hubsi Kramar and the musicians and music producers Peter Paul Skrepek and Thomas Rabitsch .

In 1998 the last two works with “Habsburg Recycling” took place: “Nazis in Space”, in coproduction with steirischer herbst , and “Survivor - Dr. Helmuth Zilk in conversation with Adolf Hitler ”(with Peter Paul Skrepek and Hubsi Kramar). The latter production, for the idea and implementation of which Gratzer was responsible, toured Austria for over a decade and is still being performed at the Rabenhof Theater with strong public interest.

Rabenhof Theater

Rabenhof Theater (2019)

In 2003, Gratzer took over the management of the Rabenhof Theater , succeeding Karl Welunschek , and positioned the house as a contemporary folk theater. It brought it on the road to success, both from the criticism and from the audience, with 88,000 viewers annually and an occupancy rate of almost 93% (as of 2019).

In 2005 the Rabenhof Theater received the Nestroy Theater Prize in the Best Off-Stage category.

The establishment, development and staging of new formats such as the political puppet shows “Bei Schüssels” (2006), “Beim Gusenbauer” (2007), “Bei Faymann” (2009) and “Bye , bye Austria! “(2013) together with Gerhard Haderer and the synchro-guerrilla group Maschek .

Furthermore, together with Ernst Molden (book and music) , Gratzer further developed the Viennese Singspiel tradition with productions that were equally successful with critics and audiences, such as the Singspiel trilogy "Häuserl am Oasch", "Hafen Wien" and "Mayerling", which were also used in were nominated for the Nestroy Theater Prize in several categories.

Gratzer's Rabenhof universe was also shaped by his close, fruitful collaboration with artists such as Nikolaus Habjan (“ Kottan determined ”), Dirk Stermann and Christoph Grissemann (“Soul burns”, “Sonnyboys”) or naked lunch mastermind Oliver Welter, among them musical direction Gratzer developed and staged the André Heller homage "Holodrio - Let me be your dirty piece", which was awarded a Nestroy Theater Prize in 2017. The musical Georg Danzer homage "Jö schau" was created in 2019 by the same team .

Gratzer is the initiator and co-inventor of the annual " Protest Song Contest " (in cooperation with FM4 ), which since 2004 has developed into an important Austrian music competition for young musicians.

Free artistic creation, film and television

In autumn 2019 Gratzer staged “Rue de Lourcine” at the Bolzano City Theater, translated by Elfriede Jelinek .

In 1999 Gratzer realized his play "Pogrom - An Economic Thriller" on the Vienna Stock Exchange, which was based on historical original protocols about the economic effects of the November pogroms of 1938, with Herbert Föttinger as head of the German insurance companies and Erwin Steinhauer as Hermann Göring. A recording of this production was broadcast by ORF in 2000 and was also presented in the Austrian Parliament on the occasion of the celebrations surrounding the liberation of Mauthausen, where there were violent disruptions and interjections by the ÖVP / FPÖ government at the time.

Also in 2000, Gratzer was one of the initiators of the political satirical campaign "Adolf Hitler at the Opera Ball", which caused a great international response. In the same year, his staging of Georg Ringsgwandl's “The Gas Station of the Damned” at the Volksoper with Tony Vegas and Sissy Löwinger caused great excitement .

In 2001, Gratzer, together with Thomas Maurer and Florian Scheuba, produced a media satirical stage version based on Billy Wilder's successful film “Extrablatt” for the youth theater under the title “News”.

In 2002 Gratzer staged the evening “Austria's greatest entertainers - the most successful mass murderers of the republic” in the Rabenhof Theater, for which he was responsible as an author and director (together with Helmuth Schödel).

Further artistic activities in the conception and realization were the development and direction of the outstanding artist award in the Radiokulturhaus from 2009 to 2011 as well as the implementation of the Austrian Art Prize in the Vienna Hofburg in 2010, 2011 and 2016 on behalf of the Republic of Austria .

In 2018, Gratzer directed the opening of the Wiener Festwochen (together with Attila Lang).

He has also worked as a cabaret director time and again with Sandra Cervik , Thomas Maurer and Robert Palfrader , among others .

As an actor, Gratzer was also seen in various film and TV productions, including films by Karin Brandauer , Niki List and Oliver Hirschbiegl.

Awards

Honors

literature

Nurse, Fabian; 10 years of rock'n'roll in community housing. The Rabenhof Theater under the direction of Thomas Gratzer. Vienna 2014, diploma thesis at the University of Vienna.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Best off-production: “HOLODRIO Let me be your dirty piece!” Official website of the Nestroy Theater Prize, accessed on April 6, 2020.
personal data
SURNAME Gratzer, Thomas
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Austrian author, director and theater director
DATE OF BIRTH 1962
PLACE OF BIRTH Krems at the Donau