Summer festivals around Vienna – open-air theatre

As most of the major theatres have already closed for the summer break, and even the most enthusiastic culture vultures prefer to spend mild summer evenings outside, a number of theatres have set up open-air stages. There can hardly be anything more enjoyable than to experience a summer-night’s dream on a balmy evening under a starry sky.

The season of open-air stages and festivals around Vienna has already started. The varied programme is proof enough that the theatre scene has not gone into recess. So that you don’t lose track of the varied programme of events on offer, here we present some of the highlights of the cultural summer 2009:

Summer stages in Vienna

Even directly in the city of Vienna theatre enthusiasts will not be disappointed. This summer the Opera Workshop is staging Maria di Rohan by Donizetti. The professional and semi-professional musicians are presenting the results of their cooperation until 23 July in the Rossauer Kaserne. Vienna Blood is being performed in the Schlosspark Theresianum, a venue of great cultural and historic significance, until 9 August 2009. The Original Viennese Impromptu Stage (also known as Tschauner) is offering a promising programme for its 100th anniversary. Various impromptu plays, guest productions and performances of children’s theatre will be presented until 13 September in the old Tschauner theatre.

Cultural adventure for “children” of all ages

Every summer, besides the performances for adults, the programme of the Theater am Spittelberg includes performances for children. Shows start on Sundays at 11 a.m. and are suitable for children from the age of three. In the Theater zum Himmel, children are not only among the audience but also perform on stage. The Hörbiger House offers a great variety of cultural events as well as an excellent range of culinary delights.

Light entertainment for the summer

Following last year’s great success, the Association Kunst&Kultur in Mödling decided to perform Everyman again this year. The square in front of the late Gothic church of St. Othmar provides the right ambience. The opera company in Klosterneuburg is this year entertaining its audiences with Donizetti’s La fille du Régiment. The extremely witty and comic production is being performed until 4 August.

Theatre in the countryside

Not far from Vienna, in the northern part of the province of Burgenland, the Mörbisch Festival takes place every year. On a stage directly by Lake Neusiedl the successful musical My Fair Lady is being performed until 23 August. Stockerau is situated about 25 kilometres north-west of Vienna and this summer La Cage aux Folles is being performed on the festival square. Alfons Haider can be seen in this tragi-comic drama of relationships until 15 August. A little bit further south, in Rannersdorf, Heimliches Geld, heimliche Liebe is being performed at Schloss Rothmühle.

Festivals in Lower Austria

This year the Gutenstein Festival is presenting the “Klimt Musical”. The life of the most famous Austrian painter can be seen until 9 August in the southern part of Lower Austria. Der Besuch der alten Dame by Friedrich Dürrenmatt, Kinder der Sonne and Die Macht der Gewohnheit are on this year’s programme of the Reichenau Festival. All those who want to see one of these plays, all with excellent casts, should get a move on because most of the performances (in German) are sold out. The Shakespeare Festival is again taking place this year in the Waldviertel. An extremely entertaining and wittily directed production of A Midsummer-Night’s Dream can be seen in the open-air theatre on the Rosenburg until the beginning of August.

Regardless of whether you decide on a play performed on one of the stages in Vienna, or combine an excursion into the countryside with a special cultural experience, we certainly wish you a wonderful summer of theatre.