toxic dreams

Thomas B. or Not

A screwball-comedy-slash-hate-story in five acts, a prologue and a not-so-happy epilogue

brut
Performance / Theatre World premiere In English
Season Opening 16/17
{Mainstream versus Avantgarde} {absurdly irregular} {sex is an uneasy ceasefire}

To open the new season of 2016/17, toxic dreams invite the audience to see their black comedy at brut. In their new piece, Thomas B. or Not, the Vienna-based performance group plunges deep into the world of the ridiculous. It’s a joke, a hoax, a prank – a text that makes fun of everybody and everything.

, © TimTom

toxic dreams - Thomas B or Not

, © TimTom

toxic dreams - Thomas B or Not

, © TimTom

toxic dreams - Thomas B or Not

, © TimTom

toxic dreams - Thomas B or Not

, © TimTom

toxic dreams - Thomas B or Not

, © TimTom

toxic dreams - Thomas B or Not

, © toxic dreams

Anna Mendelssohn

, © toxic dreams

Anna Mendelssohn

HE is a successful playwright working mostly for state theatre.
SHE is a successful performance artist working mainly in off productions.
They are a couple. They team up to write and produce a “play”, for the stage, based on their lives. But what is this “play”? Is it autobiographical? A theatre documentary? Is it a post-modern joke? Is it a piece of straight theatre about the nature of art? Is it just a love story? A crime story? And will they still be together when the “play” finally makes it onto the stage? Classic screwball comedies tend to end with a wedding, which is kind of unlikely in the present case…

The company toxic dreams was established in Vienna in 1997. In multiannual work cycles, the group has presented more than 60 productions of hybrid character, filling its very own aesthetic niche within the city. The core team surrounding the founders, Yosi Wanunu and Kornelia Kilga, consists of the players Anna Mendelssohn, Irene Coticchio and Markus Zett as well as the musician and video artist Michael Strohmann. In addition, toxic dreams regularly invite artists from all areas of art to work with them.

Pressestimmen

“We are mind jugglers… vaudeville clowns… film buffs… popular culture junkies… gertrude stein followers… we like silent movies… godard… musicals… we are liars… cheap dancers… risk takers… bad gamblers… we love the old fashioned, big acting style theatre, we don’t know what to do with it… we can still watch someone slams into a door, it still makes us laugh…
Since 1997 we have been putting on shows that deal with the not knowing… shows that busy themselves with the slippery nature of reality… shows that refuse coherent, narrative, through lines… shows that celebrate the ambiguity of everyday’s life… shows that became more and more fragmented as time went by…” toxic dreams

Credits

He Markus Zett She Anna Mendelssohn Featuring Stephanie Cumming, Susanne Gschwendtner, Isabella-Nora Händler, Anat Stainberg, NN Sounddesign and Video Michael Strohmann Assistant director Isabella-Nora Händler Written, designed and directed by Yosi Wanunu Producer Kornelia Kilga

A co-production of toxic dreams and brut Wien. With the kind support of the City of Vienna’s Department of Cultural Affairs and the Austrian Federal Chancellor’s Office.

Dates & Tickets

September 2016

Sun. 25.09.2016, 20:00
brut 16 € / 12 € / 8 €

Mon. 26.09.2016, 20:00
sold out 16 € / 12 € / 8 €

Tue. 27.09.2016, 20:00
brut 16 € / 12 € / 8 €

Wed. 28.09.2016, 20:00
sold out 16 € / 12 € / 8 €

Thu. 29.09.2016, 20:00
sold out 16 € / 12 € / 8 €

brut
Karlsplatz 5, 1010 Wien

September 2025
Mon Tue Wed Thu Fri Sat Sun
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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

September 2025
Theresa Scheinecker / Ray & Katharina Senk / Senki
Move to the Beat – Stay for the Curry
October 2025
Karin Pauer
LOW
October 2025
Season Opening Party
October 2025
Aperitivo
October 2025
Matteo Haitzmann
Im Styx baden
November 2025
Veza Fernández
Chantal, the body is a text longing for perspective
November 2025
Aperitivo
November 2025
Elena Lach & Ema Benčíková
Spacing in: Relaxed Performance Lab
November 2025
DARUM (Victoria Halper & Kai Krösche)
[EOL]. End of Life
November 2025
Drag Show with the Dragsau Collective
November 2025
Touch tour
November 2025
Alex Franz Zehetbauer
An Evening with

studio brut

not accessible

Zieglergasse 25, 1070 Wien
Subway: U3 (Zieglergasse), Tram: 49 (Westbahnstraße / Zieglergasse)
not accessible

October 2025
Lens Kühleitner & Olivia Hild
trace my layers, thrust your guts
October 2025
Aperitivo
November 2025
François-Eloi Lavignac
Fifth position
November 2025
Laureen Drexler & Giorgia Scisciola
PIERRE

Breitenseer Lichtspiele

not accessible

Breitenseer Straße 21, 1140 Vienna
U-Bahn: U3 (Hütteldorfer Straße) Tram: 10 (Laurentius Platz), 49 (Hütteldorfer Straße)

October 2025
Alex Franz Zehetbauer
An Evening with

WUK performing arts

barrierefrei

Währinger Straße 59, 1090 Vienna
Subway: U6 (Währinger Straße / Volksoper), Tram: 40, 41, 42 (Währinger Straße / Volksoper), 5, 33 (Spitalgasse), 37, 38, 40, 41, 42 (Spitalgasse / Währinger Straße)

November 2025
Maria Mam & Flora Renhardt
sk8r grrrl
November 2025
Simone Lorenzo Benini & Miriam Budzáková
Sandpit