Lonely People

Volkstheater, Vienna, Austria

Scene 1 from the play "Lonely People", photo 2

Scene 2 from the play "Lonely People", photo 3

Scene 4 from the play "Lonely People", photo 4

All photos (4)

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7:30 PM

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Important Info

Type: Drama

City: Vienna, Austria

Starts at: 19:30

Ticket delivery: E-Tickets

E-tickets: Print at home or at the box office of the event if so specified. You will find more information in your booking confirmation email.

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You can only select the category, and not the exact seats.
If you order 2 or 3 tickets: your seats will be next to each other.
If you order 4 or more tickets: your seats will be next to each other, or, if this is not possible, we will provide a combination of groups of seats (at least in pairs, for example 2+2 or 2+3).

Overview

Gerhart Hauptmann, who later won the Nobel Prize for Literature, was only 27 years old when he wrote his drama "Lonely People". In a time full of social upheavals, he describes the struggle of individuals who are looking for new forms of community and yet cannot find each other.

Four people at home endlessly who can no longer find their way out of their dependencies: The young academic Johannes Vockerat leads a secluded life with his wife Käthe. Their long-time friend Braun, who is trying to overcome his creative crisis as an artist, and Johannes' pious, but outwardly jovial mother, live with them in the rented country house. Johannes and Käthe have recently been parents, and the relationship is already in crisis: She does not find the fulfillment of motherhood as prescribed, he reproduces patriarchal structures despite all his enlightenment and suffocates in the supposedly ideal world around him.
The domestic isolation is suddenly interrupted when the student Anna Mahr from Zurich shows up with the family. She wants to see Braun, her old friend from college days, again, have conversations, maybe even settle old bills. But Johannes is immediately euphoric by Anna's demeanor: unadjusted, urbane, and also full of enthusiasm for his philosophical manuscripts! Käthe is also fascinated by her emancipated quick-wittedness. And yet happiness is short-lived.
Hauptmann's drama revolves around the dilemma of freedom, clinging to traditions, the search for new relationship models - and personal happiness that has to find its way between all these positions. Even today it poses valid questions about our way of living together: How much sacrifice am I ready, how much do I insist on my self-realization? How can I feel free without depriving others of their freedom? And how can we break away from the dogmas of previous generations without unconsciously repeating their dynamics?

Venue Info

Volkstheater - Vienna
Arthur-Schnitzler-Platz 1

The Volkstheater in Vienna (roughly translated as "People's Theatre") was founded in 1889 by request of the citizens of Vienna, amongst them the dramatist Ludwig Anzengruber and the furniture manufacturer Thonet, in order to offer a popular counterweight to the Hofburgtheater.

It was erected according to designs by Ferdinand Fellner and Hermann Helmer, who attempted to reconcile their plans with historicism. It is located in Neubau, the seventh district of Vienna.

The founders of this stage had a theatrical stage in mind, in order to expose wider circles of the population of Vienna to classical and modern literature whilst staging these next to more traditional plays. The theatre follows this tradition even today. New productions of the classics are always in the pipeline along with regular reinterpretations of works by Ferdinand Raimund and Johann Nestroy and many new plays and reruns. Special attention is given to Austrian playwrights of old and new.

In 2005 Michael Schottenberg became art director of the Volkstheater.

In 2005 the Volkstheater started an alternative theater stage called "Volkstheater Hundsturm" in Margareten, the fifth district of Vienna. It is a place for experimental theater (e.g. Wojtek Klemm, Dejan Dukovski, monochrom).

Important Info

Type: Drama

City: Vienna, Austria

Starts at: 19:30

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