Vienna
New Burgtheater boss shows Oppenheimer and Sisi
The designated Burgtheater director Stefan Bachmann in Vienna. photo
© Helmut Fohringer/APA/dpa
He wants to overcome a “certain lack of humor” at the Burgthetaer: The new director Stefan Bachmann presents his plans in Vienna.
Stefan Bachmann wants to give the Vienna Burgtheater a fresh touch under his direction starting next season. In the Vienna’s usual short name “castle” evokes associations with the feudal history of the former imperial court theater, said Bachmann on Tuesday at his first program presentation as the future director of the traditional theater in Vienna.
“The rigidity that the term brings with it, a certain lack of humor – that has to be overcome,” announced Bachmann, who has directed the Cologne Theater since 2013. In his first season, the 57-year-old is planning, among other things, productions based on material that has recently been highly successful in the cinema and on TV.
Among other things, Bachmann announced the premiere of a piece about Empress Sisi. The feminist text “Elisabeth!” by Mareike Fallwickl is written for the actress Stefanie Reinsperger, who is known to television audiences as Dortmund’s “Tatort” chief inspector. Reinsperger will be joining the ensemble in Vienna from autumn, as will Caroline Peters (“Murder with a View”, “The Last Name”).
With the German-language premiere of the drama “Manhattan Project”, the Burgtheater is also dedicating itself to the story of Robert J. Oppenheimer and the development of the atomic bomb in the 2024/25 season. As a Hollywood film adaptation, the material became a global cinema hit last year.
Another planned premiere comes from bestselling author Sibylle Berg. She contributes a dramatization of her novel “Thank You for Life”. Under the new title “Toto” it tells the life story of a person who was born without a recognizable gender.
Bachmann succeeds Martin Kusej as castle director, whose contract was not extended. Next season, the Cologne theater will be managed on an interim basis by in-house director Rafael Sanchez, after which Kay Voges will take over as director.