toxic dreams
Thomas B. or Not
A screwball-comedy-slash-hate-story in five acts, a prologue and a not-so-happy epilogue
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.
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
brut 16 € / 12 € / 8 €
sold out 16 € / 12 € / 8 €
brut 16 € / 12 € / 8 €
sold out 16 € / 12 € / 8 €
sold out 16 € / 12 € / 8 €
brut
Karlsplatz 5, 1010 Wien
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)
studio brut
not accessible
Zieglergasse 25, 1070 Wien
Subway: U3 (Zieglergasse), Tram: 49 (Westbahnstraße / Zieglergasse)
brut at Exhibit Eschenbachgasse
Eschenbachgasse 11 / Ecke Getreidemarkt, 1010 Vienna
U-Bahn: U4, U1 (Karlsplatz), Tram: 1, 2, D, 71 (Burgring), Bus: 57A (Getreidemarkt)