(Courtyard) stage free for something new

It’s a phenomenon that many organizers are talking about these days, when the virus (again) means better with the culture industry: “With absolutely well-known artists, the audience smashes the doors,” says Hemma Scheicher from the Hofbühne Tegernbach . In the case of talents who are only just conquering the broad limelight, it is more hesitant.

“But we want to counteract that this year,” says the passionate local culture provider (61), who, with her husband Norbert Perchtold and daughter Valerie, invites you to a special season from March 1st: “We have more artists than ever before in the program that are making their Hofbühne debut, more than half have never been there,” says the native of Carinthia.

In cabaret, for example, Benedikt Mittmannsgruber from Mühlviertel (March 21), Stefan Waghubinger from Steyr (April 25), as well as Viennese Michael Buchinger (August 3) and Malarina (November 8), who were awarded the most important Stage prize “Salzburger Stier” 2022. “I know our regular audience trusts us, it would be great if everyone else here did the same,” says Scheicher about the hand-picked program, which is increasingly being opened up to the theater – for example with “Hamlet – one man show” (May 4) and Gabriele Deutsch’s Hildegard Knef evening “So oder so” (May 2).

With more than 5,000 guests last year, the Hofbühne is well on the way to catching up on the number of visitors before the pandemic (6,000 to 7,000 a year).

“The Corona years were exhausting, but we never gave up, even when our nerves were gone.” We worked our way through from week to week with the aim of offering the optimal, but safe cultural experience that conformed to the requirements. The effort was enormous and sometimes meant smuggling the audience “via a one-way system” through the private building from the entrance to the exit. “It all paid off because people felt so comfortable with us.” This is due to the ambience exuded by the courtyard stage and the historic building – a baroque square built in 1704.

Scheicher and Perchtold had been looking for the right farm for four years, which they revitalized from 1995 to 2000 into a “Gesamtkunstwerk” and venue. “It paid off extremely well during Corona.” Especially in those phases in which the opportunity to enjoy culture was no longer standard, the ambience became a plus. The pandemic would also have been used to improve quality. For example, the Corona-tested “coffee house” seating, in which visitors are grouped around Thonet tables, is retained by popular request “because it is felt to be incredibly comfortable”.