Die Rabtaldirndln
AHNFRAUEN
“In the beginning was the pussy,” say the Rabtaldirndln and ask themselves: “To what extent do our mothers embody the archetype of the mother?” For this feminist performance the group from Styria has interviewed their mothers and questioned themselves. They present the answers on stage with unvarnished honesty and considerable irony.
Language: German with English subtitles
5.6. after the performance: discussion in German with the artists and Lisa Krall (gender researcher, University of Cologne), chaired by: Stawrula Panagiotaki
7.6., 18:00: haptic tour and audio description in German for blind and visually impaired visitors
Tickets for all Impulse events are also available from our ticket shop.
On a throne towering above everything else is an larger-than-life figure of Venus, naked and with giant breasts. She is used as a screen for video projections, just as the mother always had and still does have projections imposed on her. Care, self-effacement and security – countless desires and demands shape and wear down her existence. Dirndl Gudrun adds it all up: her mother took her to ballet 670 times. She fed 95,278 people. She spent 131,000 hours caring for her father, her mother and her mother-in-law.
The Rabtaldirndln tell us about their mothers’ lives and their own relationships with them: the Styrian countrywomen look a little disconcertedly but benevolently on what their daughters are doing on stage. But the mothers and daughters agree about one thing: for many women motherhood is a slap in the face from reality – which deserves more recognition.
“The Rabtaldirndln are in absolute top form in their play ‘Ahnfrauen’.” Michaela Reichart, Kronen Zeitung
Credits ›
Direction: Nadja Brachvogel
Concept, Text, Realisation: Die Rabtaldirndln and Nadja Brachvogel, Martin Brachvogel
Performance: Barbara Carli, Rosa Degen-Faschinger, Bea Dermond, Gudrun Maier
Dramaturgy: Martin Brachvogel
Production Management: Die Rabtaldirndln
Assistant Director: Azlea Wriessnig
Video: Andrea Schabernack, Natalie Pinter
Stage and Costume Design: Lisa Horvath
Technician: Tom Bergner
Expertise: Lisa Mittischek
Production ›
A co-production between Kosmos Theater, Vienna and THEATERland STEIERmark 2.23. Funded by the State of Styria, the Austrian Federal Ministry for Arts, Culture, the Civil Service and Sport and Das andere Theater, Graz.
Biography ›
Die Rabtaldirndln are a four-strong theatre collective from Graz that has worked for over 20 years on its own formal language with the consistent cast of Barbara Carli, Rosa Degen-Faschinger, Bea Dermond and Gudrun Maier. The collective appropriates elements of performance and theatre in order to develop contemporary theatre evenings from them. The productions are universal, contain pop culture elements and often show great sensitivity in targeting relevant themes. The works of the Rabtaldirndln reflect the contradictions of rural life: the bourgeois, patriarchal pressure exercised by a village community on one hand and community, warmth and identification on the other. These tensions are continually considered afresh across a range of different themes. They show lived realities, living worlds and inhospitable lives. Operating in this way, in the tension between urban and rural culture, is an important characteristic of the Rabtaldirndln. Visible on stage as a purely female collective, they can be relied upon to test their themes for female perspectives. They do not want to spoon feed their audiences, they want to expose themselves. They want to expand horizons, both their own and those of the audience, and tackle life’s questions both large and small without losing their sense of humour. In 2023 the Rabtaldirndln were awarded Vienna’s Nestroy Theatre Prize for the production AHNFRAUEN directed by Nadja Brachvogel.