Overview

The Volkstheater was founded more than 100 years ago by request of the citizens of Vienna, amongst them the dramatist Anzengruber and the furniture manufacturer Thonet, in order to offer a popular counter weight to the Hofburg theater. It was erected according to designs by Ferdinand Fellner and Hermann Helmer, who attempted to reconcile their plans with historicism. 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 theater follows this tradition even today. Exciting new productions of the classics are always in the pipeline along with regular reinterpretations of works by Raimund and Nestroy and many new plays and reruns. Special attention is given to Austrian playwrights old and new.