Festspiele Stockerau - Tartuffe - schedule, program & buy tickets

To mark the 70th anniversary of Stockerau’s incorporation as a town in 1963, a play was performed for the first time on the square in front of the Baroque parish church in Stockerau: Otto Kroneder initiated the staging of the play “Gajus Gracchus” by the Stockerau poet Bruno Kühnl (1897–1961).

Due to the great interest it generated, seven additional productions were staged beginning in 1964 under the artistic direction of Otto Kroneder. This year is therefore considered the true beginning of the festival’s regular activities. After Kroneder’s tragic death, Jürgen Wilke led the Stockerau Festival for 27 years. This period saw numerous Shakespeare productions, as well as G. B. Shaw’s “Heroes,” to name just a few.

Alfons Haider served as artistic director starting in 1998. Under his leadership, musicals made their debut on the stage in front of the parish church. In 2012, “A Chorus Line” brought the musical era to a spectacular close.

With the 2013 season, Zeno Stanek took over as artistic director and returned to spoken theater with the critically acclaimed production of Friedrich Dürrenmatt’s “The Visit” starring Anne Bennent in the lead role. Not only did he increasingly involve the festival city and its residents in the program, but he also expanded the theater program to include the sophisticated music series “querfeld1,” featuring the grand summer night concerts on the festival stage and a series of free concerts by up-and-coming professional ensembles at various restaurants and bars throughout the city.

The new concept continued in the anniversary year 2014 (the festival’s 50th anniversary) with the promising stage adaptation of *One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest* and was well-received by an enthusiastic audience, accompanied by aperitif concerts featuring young talents and prominent Summer Night Concerts on the festival stage.

With “Don Camillo and Peppone,” the Stockerau Festival fully established itself in 2015 as a spoken-word theater event at the Lower Austria Theater Festival, with 24 sold-out performances. Even the Baroque parish church opened its doors for aperitif concerts, and the festival stage hosted top-notch summer night programs.

Artistic Director Zeno Stanek was able to draw a more than positive conclusion for 2016 as well, given the outstanding attendance figures: With “The Servant of Two Masters” (Carlo Goldoni) and a diverse supporting program of high artistic quality, the Stockerau Festival proved to be a permanent and important part of Lower Austria’s cultural diversity.

Most recently, during the record-breaking summer of 2017, the festival’s production of *LUMPAZI Vagabundus* ensured a successful season for everyone. The contemporary adaptation of this classic of Old Viennese folk theater was very well received, and Nestroy’s satirical, biting humor came across powerfully on stage, thanks in part to the up-to-date lyrics of the couplets.

Subject to change.