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WE SHUT THE SHIT DOWN!
The theatre WERK X Meidling starts in its last season 2022/23 with claims like „We shut the shit down“, „WERK X on its way home“ or „There is no place for politics in theatre“.
The most special about this season: In addition to promising new productions and a large-scale final project, the collected highlights of the Posch/Abdullah-era are experiencing a last hurrah: „We present all the highlights of the last 10 years for the last time on one long weekend each. According to the motto: Everything has to go!“, expressed WERK X-inventors Harald Posch and Ali M. Abdullah.
It is a unique opportunity for the audience to experience everything that was missed in the last years, which includes favorites such as TALES FROM THE VIENNA WOODS with Austrian singer-songwriter „Der Nino aus Wien (engl.: Nino from Vienna) „, HOMOHALAL or THE GRAPES OF WRATH.
„In addition, there are highly exciting new productions such as WANJA. DERNIÈRE RÈBELLION directed by Harald Posch,“ says Abdullah, who celebrates the first premiere of the season with directing MEIN FALL (engl.: MY CASE) based on the book by Austrian author Josef Haslinger.
The season will culminate in a final major project. For four premieres in Vienna, four directors and/or collectives are staging texts by Elfriede Jelinek which have emerged in three decades but have never been performed before in Vienna. „It will be a conglomerate of our best artists for the joined production I DON’T WANT A THEATRE, I WANT ANOTHER THEATRE, which should clarify and strengthen the position of WERK X one last time,“ announced the two WERK X-inventors.
THE ERA „X“
What began with DRAMA X in 2004 as a free project led to the founding of GARAGE X in 2009 and to the expansion of WERK X in Meidling’s cable factory in 2014. During this time, the X stood for progression, intervention and position. Almost twenty years later, the era of artistic direction will end for the both X-inventors Harald Posch and Ali M. Abdullah after this season.
Founded in 2014, the „Theater am Arsch der Welt (engl.: Theatre at the back of beyond)“ in Meidling, in conjunction with the off-stage WERK X-Petersplatz was quickly established as a brand for innovative spoken theatre in the Viennese theatre landscape. Modern influences and new perspectives break traditional theatre performances.
WERK X aims at providing a space for engaged artistic work beyond the repertoire of the state theatres. It follows an artistic approach that stands in favor of a critical view on the contemporary social order and works towards an understanding of art and theatre as a vital part of any democratic society.
The concept of many of the plays is to update classical dialogue theatre, and to question what has been done before.
In recent years, WERK X has established itself as a pioneer among the theatres in Vienna in terms of dealing with issues of diversity and migration. For example, a few years ago, the theatre hosted a festival called PIMP MY INTEGRATION. During this festival, the function and possibility of migrant actors and the role of German speaking theatres concerning changes in society were discussed.
Additionally said, with inviting guest performers to Vienna and with having guest performances at Thalia in Hamburg, Residenztheater in Munich, Sophiensæle in Berlin or at the Théâtre National du Luxembourg, WERK X’s own productions were always in demand far beyond the borders of Austria.
It attracts thousands of visitors every year and was nominated twelve times for the NESTROY prize between 2012 and 2022 and was able to win four of them.