Leben und Sterben in Wien - Schedule, Program & Tickets

Around the corner behind the town hall
The pavement full of blood.
And in the blood
The workers' anger.
It rode there behind the town hall
The state police.
They rode with weapons
And with lead bullets.
And there was a shot behind the town hall
The state police
To the fleeing horde.
94 murders.

In this work commissioned for the Theater in der Josefstadt, the playwright Thomas Arzt creates a picture of the Austrian interwar period that is both bloody and poetic.

The main character of the piece is the young maid Fanni, whose Catholic-influenced life takes a turn when she meets the enigmatic Sara. Inspired by their socialist ideas, Fanni goes to the capital Vienna, experiences the achievements of the workers' movement and at the same time witnesses how the Schattendorf verdicts herald the end of the First Republic.

In Living and Dying in Vienna, Thomas Arzt vividly tells of the radicalization of a society, the breakdown of all solidarity and the linguistic breeding ground for fascism and National Socialism. He calls up over a dozen characters, lets them step out of the action in songs and still spins a fine-grained web around the "completely fictitious" story of a woman who emancipates herself from her roots.

Subject to change.