Theater Ensemble does not receive support – and now wants to continue the Bund «DiePresse.com

The Serapions Ensemble, directed by Erwin Piplits, who has attracted attention since 1973 through poetic and powerful theatrical productions, is set to cancel its own production scheduled for the fall. The director of the theater confirmed this to the APA after a preliminary report from the magazine "News". Reason is an operating grant not collected by the federal government in the amount of 300,000 euros. According to Piplits, the 800,000 euros received annually from the City of Vienna would not be enough

The negative decision for the operating grant is "a negative recommendation for an annual grant from the Advisory Committee", as head of Jürgen Meindl section Statement to the APA. However, since the theater of the Odeon is an "important cultural institution of the Viennese theatrical landscape", we would like to speak with Piplits about "concrete projects and the future of the institution". "In 2018, the federal government is ready to support the Odeon Theater at the level of the previous year," said Meindl.

"We can not be treated like this"

This amount, which was a fraction of the However, Piplits does not want to accept it, as he told APA. "We have not asked, we can not be treated like that, we are not independent scene with two or three people involved, we employ 25 people, of whom 16 have to register at the # 39, AMS, "said Piplits, who hopes it will be a 2019 year again to be able to work on a new production. The fall will be denied with the guest appearances that come to the Odeon, next year they will first try to register the house with a curriculum vitae.

Piplits critical acerb of the advisory board system and on various editions, these are "practical – and foreign theater". Compared to other houses of similar size, he is entitled to an operating grant, according to Piplits, which is considering a claim for distortion of competition. "If I give one resource and not the other, it's deliberate," said the theater director. "One can not treat the Odeon as a runaway who has just submitted a manuscript." None of the Advisory Board members had ever participated in the overall performance of Serapion. "This is no longer viable, and at some point you have to start fighting back."

(APA)