Stefanie Sourial
FLASHMOB
In FLASHMOB, Stefanie Sourial traces a phenomenon of the 2000s, located somewhere between politics and hedonism, and remeasures it for our present time. In league with the audience, they reenacts famous flashmobs – and, ideally, the joy of not being alone in a time of crisis and decay.
Who remembers flashmobs? Back in the 2000s, long before TikTok, Snapchat and the most recent eating-pudding-with-a-fork, predominantly young people would arrange spontaneous meetings to do unusual things in public spaces, turning into a community for a short moment. This would result in boisterous disruptions of daily routines with comedic or even political backgrounds, somewhere between hedonism and actionism. ‘A floating feeling of happiness due to collaborative success. A short flash of resistance, bringing our reality to a halt for a super-short time and conjuring something else,’ as Stefanie Sourial puts it. For the performer/stand-up comedian, flashmobs are an aging performance technique. Sourial is overcome with fascination, goosebumps, a sense of power and monumental, almost childlike euphoria whenever they watch flashmobs online. With their piece FLASHMOB, Stefanie Sourial wants to relive and remeasure the phenomenon for our present time. People who stand still for a moment at New York’s Grand Central Station, an unwitting couple who turn into protagonists of a staged date, a surprise performance in the windows of a shopping mall or collective snogging for world peace on Vienna’s Mariahilfer Straße: Stefanie Sourial traces the force, essence and methodology of the flashmob based on popular video examples from back in the day, flinging it into the theatrical space with classic Sourial power – partly with the audience’s help. While FLASHMOB might be announced as a solo performance, it takes more than one person to create a flashmob as a means of collective organising aiming at social change. How can we be together when all fragments of reality seem to tear us apart? FLASHMOB might just have the answer.
Stefanie Sourial realises their own pieces and stand-up shows, including PHARAO IN DRAG (2025), NEW ENDINGS (2023), CITY OF DIASPORA (2021), the COLONIAL COCKTAIL trilogy (2019–2020), FREAK – wo endet der Traum und wo beginnt das Trauma (2014–2015) and Difficulties You Might Get Being An Artist In Austria (2011). Since 2017, Stefanie Sourial has been part of the PCCC* – Politically Correct Comedy Club. From 2009 to 2015, they were in Katrina Daschner’s CLUB BURLESQUE BRUTAL. Since 2009, they have worked and performed with Vienna-based artists such as Malarina, Denice Bourbon, Katrina Daschner, Gin Müller, Veza Fernández, Nina Kusturica, Katharina Mückstein and Kurt Palm. In 2007, they graduated from the International School for Theatre Jacques Lecoq in Paris. Since 2016, they have taught performance art at the Academy of Fine Arts Vienna. Stefanie Sourial’s performances, which are anti-racist, queer and socio-critical, combine two types of narration: the historical and the personal – always with a focus on the political. www.stefaniesourial.com
Press
[Stefanie Sourial] fully exploits her talent as a brilliant, eloquent solo performer: temperament and wit, physical expressiveness and a love of artistic precision that is rare in Viennese performance culture.
Stefanie Sourial – FLASHMOB in the Ö1 Kulturjournal on 15 January 2025
An piece by Judith Hoffmann
Accessibility
The audience will sometimes be seated and at other times move about the space freely.
On Sat. 17.01., there will be a touch tour at 19:00 at free admission, where Stefanie Sourial will present “little gadgets” and provide information about the performance. The meeting point is at 18:50 in the foyer. More about the touch tour
Credits
Created by and featuring Stefanie Sourial Dramaturgy & directing Mara Verlič, Sophie Schmeiser, Denice Bourbon Outside eyes Hyo Lee, Nick Prokesch Technical direction Valentin Langer Set and costume design Katharina Haring, Attila Plangger, Valentin Langer Announcement photo Marija Šabanović Live performance photography Marija Šabanović Video documentation Johanna Kirsch Production management mollusca productions Accessibility advice for blind and visually impaired audiences Christine Krusch, Katharina Senk, Theresa Scheinecker
A co-production by Stefanie Sourial – Verein für souriales Theater and brut Wien.
Funded by the City of Vienna’s Department of Cultural Affairs (MA7) and the Austrian Federal Ministry of Housing, Arts, Culture, Media and Sport (BMWKMS).
Dates & Tickets
January 2026
€ 22/€ 18/€ 14
€ 22/€ 18/€ 14 * Aperitivo at 19:00, moderation: Hyo Lee & artist talk after the performance, moderation: Katrin Brehm
€ 22/€ 18/€ 14
€ 22/€ 18/€ 14 ** Touch tour at 19:00
brut nordwest
Nordwestbahnstraße 8-10, 1200 Vienna
accessible
Info
On Thu. 15.01., there will be an Aperitivo at 19:00 (moderation: Hyo Lee) and an artist talk after the performance (moderation: Katrin Brehm).
On Sat. 17.01., there will be a touch tour at 19:00 at free admission.
Content notes
The performance uses special effects and some loud music.
Downloads
Evening programme Stefanie Sourial (PDF)
Event recommendations
Touch tour
for FLASHMOB by Stefanie Sourial
Aperitivo
to FLASHMOB by Stefanie Sourial, moderation: Hyo Lee
Magazin
