Myths of Everyday Life - Mattias Andersson - Vienna Festival 2026

Andy Warhol once promised us our ‘15 minutes of fame’. He said that every human and every biography can spark a myth. So it is not just the stories of Agamemnon, Orestes, Oedipus, etc. that can deliver the material for great theatre. Swedish director and author Mattias Andersson set out to search for Vienna’s new myths in a large-scale process over the course of a year. All inhabitants were invited to share their stories: ‘Which part of your life belongs centre-stage? And what detail would you still like to change about it?’, Andersson asked. Myths of Everyday Life lets the people of Vienna become the authors of their own myth. Their biographies meld into a polyphonous panorama of the city and Mattias Andersson, together with the Volkstheater ensemble, condenses them into a theatre production that is moving, heterogenous, comical and surprising. Paying homage to diversity.

Recommended for ages 14+

Language: German, Bosnian-Serbian-Croatian with German and English surtitles
Duration: approx. 2h

Place

The Volkstheater in Vienna (roughly translated as "People's Theatre") was founded in 1889 by request of the citizens of Vienna, amongst them the dramatist Ludwig Anzengruber and the furniture manufacturer Thonet, in order to offer a popular counter weight to the Hofburgtheater. It was erected according to designs by Ferdinand Fellner and Hermann Helmer, who attempted to reconcile their plans with historicism. It is located in Neubau, the seventh district of Vienna.

The founders of this stage had a theatrical stage in mind, in order to expose wider circles of the population of Vienna to classical and modern literature whilst staging these next to more traditional plays. The theatre follows this tradition even today. New productions of the classics are always in the pipeline along with regular reinterpretations of works by Ferdinand Raimund and Johann Nestroy and many new plays and reruns. Special attention is given to Austrian playwrights of old and new.

In 2005 Michael Schottenberg became art director of the Volkstheater.

In 2005 the Volkstheater started an alternative theater stage called "Volkstheater Hundsturm" in Margareten, the fifth district of Vienna. It is a place for experimental theater.