Nesterval
Nestervals Nibelungen: Donaugold
Nesterval’s Nibelungs: Danube Gold
Post-apocalypse now! Austria in 2044, in the wake of the Second Vienna Water War. Water is the new gold. In Nestervals Nibelungen: Donaugold (‘Nesterval’s Nibelungs: Danube Gold’), the Vienna theatre group ventures a look into our near future, creating a dystopian place where the available resources serve only a selected few; where strict rules and laws apply as do selfishness and decadence; and where sacrifice means mainly one thing: survival. Donaugold at brut Wien and the simultaneous production Wallden at the Wiener Festwochen | Free Republic of Vienna mark a new, two-part Nibelung saga at two different venues. Nesterval’s immersive theatre setting shows a civilisation at a crossroads and asks how we are going to live and survive as we run out of resources. Brace yourselves, it’s going to be dark.
Tickets for the pieces created by the group surrounding Martin Finnland usually sell out in no time. Three joint productions with brut Wien were nominated for NESTROY prizes; Der Kreisky-Test even won the special prize. For 2026, the immersive theatre group have big plans: Their two-part show Nestervals Nibelungen is set in the near future and takes place at two different venues simultaneously: Donaugold (at brut Wien’s main location brut nordwest – a final extravaganza before the move) and Wallden (in nature as part of Wiener Festwochen | Free Republic of Vienna). Both productions are autonomous pieces, each standing for itself, but closely connected by mirroring themes and characters. Both pieces are set in the same post-apocalyptic universe, a continuation of the dystopian opera Nestervals Götterdämmerung that ran at Neue Staatsoper (NEST) in autumn of 2025.
In Nestervals Götterdämmerung, audiences had to decide whether they wanted to follow Siegfried, Kriemhild, Wotan and other characters from the Richard Wagner universe to Donaugold or to Wallden. The latter is a utopian commune in nature – or what is left of nature in 2044. Donaugold on the other hand represents decadency, civilisation and things being under control. In this continuation performance, these two life scripts draw audiences into intense, immersive theatre experiences. In the face of dwindling resources, life-or-death situations abound. Here and there, the same question rules: How are we going to live and survive in the near future? What works in Wallden fails in Donaugold, and vice versa. ‘Same same but different’ becomes the pillar of narration. Nevertheless, ‘the one way’ does not exist, and maybe failure is just human. And everybody will have to make sacrifices.
Both Nibelungen productions are ripe with mythology. Nesterval suggests audiences attend each of Donaugold and Wallden not more than once to keep the magic of the unknown alive, allow surprises to happen and not even try to understand the complete truth.
Information on dates and tickets for Nestervals Nibelungen: Wallden will be available on www.festwochen.at starting 26 February.
Martin Finnland created Nesterval in 2011. The Vienna-based immersive theatre group co-founded with Teresa Löfberg, for which Finnland acts as artistic head and director, identifies as a queer popular theatre that translates historic classics of literature and drama into the present day by exaggerating and deconstructing them. Each production revolves around the pleasure of playing, the creation of a theatrical space for adventure, and the involvement of the audience in the performance. Interactive agency is enabled by empathy, surprising casting, and the conversations between spectators and actors that are actively pursued during, but also after the show. Nesterval works with a queer technique of empowerment in which the playful level always includes a political dimension as societally relevant questions are posed and negotiated. Martin Finnland was nominated for three NESTROY prizes with Nesterval; in 2020 the group won the special prize. Their production Die Namenlosen found its way to the shortlist of the 2024 nachtkritik-Theatertreffen and to the showcase of the Impulse Theater Festival. Finnland has so far staged and produced more than 40 pieces. Nesterval’s co-operating partners and customers include, among others, brut Wien (since 2016), Kampnagel’s International Summer Festival in Hamburg, Vereinigte Bühnen Bozen, steirischer herbst, Kunsthalle Wien, Wien Museum and the Vienna State Opera.
Nesterval makes immersive theatre. Queerness and diversity are starting points for all Nesterval productions. In a mix of classic acting methods and elements from immersive theatre, Martin Finnland and his team have since 2011 created performance theatre experiences in which the audience becomes part of the play. Nesterval’s productions are site-specific projects often performed in non-theatrical spaces that reference the cultural, societal and historical background of the respective venues so as to bring the city’s diversity and history to life. What links the different pieces is that they all reference at least one member of the fictional Nesterval family and that most of them include a game component, allowing audiences to join the players in one way or another. Nesterval’s joint productions with brut Wien include Nesterval’s Dirty Faust – a mash-up of Goethe’s Faust and 1980s dance movies, Das Dorf and Sex, Drugs & Budd’n’brooks. Most recently, Nesterval performed Der Rosa Winkel – Die Geschichte der Namenlosen at brut Wien in 2024, an advanced version of 2023’s Die Namenlosen.
Credits
Featuring Kira Lorenza Althaler, Laura Athanasiadis, Waltraud Barton, Gellert Gerson Butter, Eva Deutsch, Gisa Fellerer, Norbert Fiedler, Martin Finnland, Laura Hermann, Fabian Tobias Huster, Chris Pfannebecker, Géraldine Schabraque, Johannes Scheutz, Claudia Six, Lorenz Tröbinger, Marius Valente, Alkis Vlassakakis, Helen Zangerle
Artistic direction, concept & directing Martin Finnland Commercial direction & co-directing Tove Grün Written by Eva Deutsch, Martin Finnland, Tove Grün, Teresa Löfberg, Lorenz Tröbinger Dramaturgy Rita Neulinger Choreography & co-directing Jerôme Knols Set design Andrea Konrad Costume design Sophie Eidenberger Musical production Julian Muldoon
Production management Sabine Anders Technical direction Lukas Saller Music curation Alkis Vlassakakis Set construction tbc Assistant directing Cuqui Espinoza, Marlo Pichler Production assistance Chiara Seide Directing intern tbc Set design team Mattea Jäger, Anna Weiss Set design interns Blue Haloun, Gwendoline Wagner Costume assistance Julia Hörner Costume design intern Sidi Robol Stage management Valentin Jahn, Chiara Seide Communication Christopher Wurmdobler Graphic design Rita Neulinger Photography Alexandra Thompson Trailer Lorenz Tröbinger Archive & proposals Martin Walkner Office & accounting Doris Panzer
A co-production by Nesterval and brut Wien.
Funded by the City of Vienna’s Department of Cultural Affairs (MA 7)
Special thanks to Freund*innen von Nesterval, in particular Chairlady Andrea Lenk, as well as supporters Michael Brandtner, Oleg Elkin, Theo Enzelberger, Lukas Erber, Johannes Felber, Martin Hinterndorfer, Andreas Kauba, Markus Kellner, Kaya Alina Knapp, Philipp Leitenbauer, Julia Polz, Elisabeth Rohr, Sabine Sammer, Christina Schreckenthaler, Maria Sibilia, Matthias Strohmayer, Richard Taupe, Gerald Timelthaler, Sylvia Waldstätten, Tobias Walka, Edmund W. and Thomas Zedrosser and further René Lipkovich (SLT Siart Lipkovich & team), Helmut Patterer (PRBS Patterer e.U.) and Nikolaus Vogler (PHKV Rechtsanwälte).
Dates & Tickets
May 2026
€ 75/€ 45/€ 22 Check-in: 18:00–18:45, performance starts at 19:00 (no late admission)
€ 75/€ 45/€ 22 Check-in: 18:00–18:45, performance starts at 19:00 (no late admission)
€ 75/€ 45/€ 22 Check-in: 18:00–18:45, performance starts at 19:00 (no late admission)
€ 75/€ 45/€ 22 Check-in: 18:00–18:45, performance starts at 19:00 (no late admission)
€ 75/€ 45/€ 22 Check-in: 18:00–18:45, performance starts at 19:00 (no late admission)
€ 75/€ 45/€ 22 Check-in: 18:00–18:45, performance starts at 19:00 (no late admission)
€ 75/€ 45/€ 22 Check-in: 18:00–18:45, performance starts at 19:00 (no late admission)
€ 75/€ 45/€ 22 Check-in: 18:00–18:45, performance starts at 19:00 (no late admission)
€ 75/€ 45/€ 22 Check-in: 18:00–18:45, performance starts at 19:00 (no late admission)
€ 75/€ 45/€ 22 Check-in: 18:00–18:45, performance starts at 19:00 (no late admission)
€ 75/€ 45/€ 22 Check-in: 18:00–18:45, performance starts at 19:00 (no late admission)
€ 75/€ 45/€ 22 Check-in: 18:00–18:45, performance starts at 19:00 (no late admission)
€ 75/€ 45/€ 22 Check-in: 18:00–18:45, performance starts at 19:00 (no late admission)
June 2026
€ 75/€ 45/€ 22 Check-in: 18:00–18:45, performance starts at 19:00 (no late admission)
€ 75/€ 45/€ 22 Check-in: 18:00–18:45, performance starts at 19:00 (no late admission)
€ 75/€ 45/€ 22 Check-in: 18:00–18:45, performance starts at 19:00 (no late admission)
€ 75/€ 45/€ 22 Check-in: 18:00–18:45, performance starts at 19:00 (no late admission)
€ 75/€ 45/€ 22 Check-in: 18:00–18:45, performance starts at 19:00 (no late admission)
brut nordwest
Nordwestbahnstraße 8-10, 1200 Vienna
accessible
Info
Ticket info
A maximum of four tickets for Nestervals Nibelungen: Donaugold can be added to the shopping basket and purchased per ticket purchase.
The ticket categories are: € 75 (support ticket) / € 45 / € 22.
Support ticket: By purchasing a support ticket, you are choosing to financially support the ‘Donaugold’ project and the Nesterval group. As a thank you for your support, you will receive a drink on the evening of the performance and fast track entry to the venue. Limited availability.
Combined tickets
Combined ticket for Donaugold on 23 May and Wallden on 24 May for € 100, available from 26 February at 10:00 at brut-wien.at (limited availability).
Combined ticket for Wallden on 23 May and Donaugold on 24 May for € 100, available from 26 February at 10:00 at festwochen.at (limited availability).
Content notes
The performance features strobe effects and haze. Parts of it take place in darkness or at reduced visibility. There will be no assigned seats.
The performance contains depictions of physical, psychological and sexual violence, nudity, non-gender-sensitive language for artistic reasons, queerphobia, misogyny, sexism and suicide. Recommended from the age of 18. If you have any concerns regarding the contents of this performance, please e-mail us at production@nesterval.at; we will get back to you.
brut all over Vienna
brut nordwest
accessible
Nordwestbahnstraße 8-10, 1200 Vienna
Subway: U1, U2 (Praterstern), U4 (Friedensbrücke), U6 (Dresdnerstraße) Tram: 5 (Nordwestbahnstraße) Bus: 5A (Wasnergasse)
accessible
studio brut
not accessible
Zieglergasse 25, 1070 Wien
Subway: U3 (Zieglergasse), Tram: 49 (Westbahnstraße / Zieglergasse)
not accessible