Brecht and Asia

Brecht’s play is set in the Chinese province of Szechuan, which makes it just that much more suited to an adaptation by a practitioner strongly influenced by Asian theater. Director, curator and performance theorist Ong Keng Sen has headed the “TheatreWorks“ theater group in Singapore since 1985. In 2005, he staged Brecht’s “The Caucasian Chalk Circle” at Vienna’s Schauspielhaus. For Linz09, he’s scrutinized the Chinese roots of “The Good Person of Szechuan.” The outcome of this encounter is an evening of theater at the nexus of Brechtian drama, reinterpretation and performance.

The Good Person of Szechuan
Premiere: September 26, 2009, 7:30 PM
Landestheater Linz (Promenade 39, 4020 Linz)
Additional performances through January 2010.


Of Puppets and Robots
Modern narrative forms with ancient roots and new stories in unusual garb—the DOPPELGÄNGER theater festival offers rare glimpses behind the scenery and fresh new takes on literary classics.
The combination of shadow theater and puppetry blended with digital animation and robots live on stage will let theatergoers experience these works—some quite familiar—in a totally new way. There’s “The Trial” by Franz Kafka as real-time dance theater and a fictional puppet play about two boys who actually were classmates in real life: Hitler and Wittgenstein. Here, paradoxical scenarios are sources of new and unusual insights. Even Shakespeare and Ibsen make cameo appearances. On one evening, the audience in Hafenhalle09 will go on a non-stop trip to Bollywood for surprising encounters with new cultures.
What’s remarkable about these productions is the vitality, originality and imagination they positively exude. It’s a wonderful paradox that these contemporary works come across as so fresh and modern despite being staged using techniques based on the world’s oldest theatrical forms. Make your ticket reservations now!

WHAT // International theater festival
WHEN // October 8-21, 2009
WHERE // Hafenhalle09, Industrieziel 41a, 4020 Linz