Image: VOLKER Weihbold
Going on stage and not knowing what’s going to happen, not learning a line, not rehearsing a scene – the everyday life of the actors in improvisational theater would bring beads of sweat to the foreheads of other actors.
David Wagner (56) has improvised on stage or sat behind the piano more than 500 times in the past 20 years.
“Wagner and Co” is the name of the ensemble, which consists of him as pianist and moderator and around five actors each. His love of music and the spontaneous has accompanied the native of Graz his whole life: “I’ve been making bar music and accompanying silent films for more than 30 years, I’ve accompanied the ballet rehearsals in the state theater for ten years and also improvised.”
The fact that something is not perfect or has to be worked out first is a process that the actors are open to: “You can work with nothing, the audience can see that the idea is still in the making and is not yet finished.”
The toilet is not original
Even glitches can be turned into something creative. Improvisation only works when it is spontaneous – preparing something beforehand, which you show when in doubt, tends to hinder success. “That blocks.”
What improv theater thrives on is the live audience, the immediate, the spontaneous. The result is scenes, songs, even short operas. The most important factor in whether something succeeds is the audience. It should evoke something and provide keywords, but not necessarily be original. “If someone suggests a toilet as a location, that’s not necessarily something new for us,” says Wagner. But the most difficult thing is still when the audience is silent. (jule)
Info: On March 30, Wagner & Co’s new program “Aus demleeve” celebrates its premiere in Linz’s Posthof (sold out). Tickets are still available for May 24th (www.posthof.at and 0732 / 78 18 00).
Further dates: May 26 Bad Ischl, spa park, May 27 Pettenbach, church square, May 28 Kirchham, new parish church, May 29 Gosau, cultural center, June 3 Unterach, music pavilion, June 4 Roitham, market hall, June 10 Obertraun, lake stage , June 11 Scharnstein, LMS-Freibühne, June 11 Grünau, Ortsplatz, June 18 Vorchdorf, Hoftaverne Ziegelböck, June 18 Steinbach, Seefeld lido, August 26 Altaussee, Volkshaus, August 27 Bad Aussee, cabaret in the Kurpark, August 27, Grundlsee, Gößler lido, September 2, Laakirchen, parish hall, September 3, St. Konrad, lake stage, September 3, Altmünster, parish hall
Source: Nachrichten
