Graz-based Theater im Bahnhof tells the story of a community in which a detention centre and a distillery change the lives of the inhabitants.

A hundred years ago, a flat in the Upper Styrian municipality of Vordernberg was more expensive than on Vienna’s Ringstraße. As recently as seventy years ago, the municipality was one of Austria’s wealthiest. Today, postindustrial Vordernberg has been hit by migration. But there are people who oppose the forecast demise.

In this valley, in which the sun only ever shines briefly, lies the most beautiful prison ever built. The new Anhaltezentrum (detention centre) stands as a symbol of departure into a promising future. It is good for the detainees, the security personnel, the private sector, and tax revenue. In fact, this prison isn’t a prison at all, but merely a place of transit where people wait to be released into a new life. Can’t Austria be better for once than the industrious Scandinavian countries that usually have the most beautiful showcase projects?

In the light of this prison, Theater im Bahnhof tells a story of entrepreneurship in its most original form. Someone comes to the municipality and starts up an illicit distillery, the 500 euro settlement incentive is the starting capital. Business is soon booming, after all the schnapps is delicious – and gradually love and admiration begin to grow for the place and the personal stories of its residents.

Theatergruppe / Tanzkompanie: Theater im Bahnhof
Mitwirkende / Mitwirkender: Jacob Banigan
Mitwirkende / Mitwirkender: Ed. Hauswirth
Mitwirkende / Mitwirkender: Johanna Hierzegger
Mitwirkende / Mitwirkender: Gabriela Hiti
Mitwirkende / Mitwirkender: Eva Maria Hofer
Mitwirkende / Mitwirkender: Markus Klengel
Mitwirkende / Mitwirkender: Helmut Köpping
Mitwirkende / Mitwirkender: Rupert M. Lehofer
Mitwirkende / Mitwirkender: Christina Helena Romirer
Mitwirkende / Mitwirkender: Lynne Ann Williams
Mitwirkende / Mitwirkender: Bewohnerinnen und Bewohner von Vordernberg und Eisenerz

Mediathek