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

March 2024
Mon Tue Wed Thu Fri Sat Sun
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04 05 06 07 08 09 10
11 12 13 14 15 16 17
18 19 20 21 22 23 24
25 26 27 28 29 30 31

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)

April 2024
Handle with care with Mzamo Nondlwana
April 2024
Mzamo Nondlwana
Turning Point
April 2024
Daniela Georgieva
Fluscia
May - June 2024
Nesterval
The Pink Triangle

Meeting point: Gasthaus Hansy at Praterstern

accessible 

Heinestraße 42 , 1020 Vienna
Subway: U1, U2 (Praterstern) / S-Bahn: S1, S2, S3, S4, S7 (Praterstern) / Tram: 5 (Praterstern)

May - June 2024
Out and about featuring QWIEN
The Nameless of Leopoldstadt

brut at Bank Austria Kunstforum Wien

accessible

Freyung 8, 1010 Vienna
Subway: U1 (Stephansplatz), U2 (Schottentor), U3 (Herrengasse) / Tram: 1, 37, 38, 40, 41, 42, 43, 44 (Schottentor) / Bus: 1A, 2A (Herrengasse U), 3A (Renngasse)

June 2024
Aldo Giannotti in Collaboration with Karin Pauer
HOUSE OF CONSTRUCTS

Rote Bar at Volkstheater

accessible

Arthur-Schnitzler-Platz 1, 1070 Vienna
Subway: U3 (Volkstheater) / Tram: 49 (Volkstheater) / Bus: 48A (Volkstheater)

June 2024
Arno Böhler, Susanne Valerie Granzer, Sabina Holzer & Florian Reiners
RED MATTERS OF THE *HEART*

brut at Sportplatz 1210

accessible

Jedlersdorfer Platz 25, 1210 Vienna
Subway U6 (Florisdorf) / S-Bahn: S1, S2, S3, S4, S7 (Floridsdorf) / Tram: 30, 31 (Brünner Straße / Hanreitergasse) / Bus: 30A, 32A (Toni Fritsch Weg)

June 2024
Theater im Bahnhof
RUNNING OUT

studio brut

not accessible

Zieglergasse 25, 1070 Wien
Subway: U3 (Zieglergasse), Tram: 49 (Westbahnstraße / Zieglergasse)

April - May 2024
Claudia Lomoschitz
Vibrant Void

brut nordwest – rehearsal space

not accessible

Nordwestbahnstraße 8-10, 1200 Vienna

May 2024
Handle with care with Jaskaran Anand
June 2024
A temporary collective of students and artists from the Department of Site-Specific Art / University of Applied Arts Vienna
Exactly as Imagined