Tales from the Vienna Woods

folk play by Ödön von Horváth
in a new version by David Harrower
music by Johann Strauss and others

Don’t spoil her, Oskar, or you’ll pay dear for it. You wouldn’t believe what I had to put up with in my marriage. Not because madam, my wife, God bless her, was a vicious-tongued cow but because I was too decent. Never lose your authority! Keep your distance! Patriarchy, not matriarchy! Keep your head up and your thumbs pressed firmly down. Ave Caesar, morituri te salutant!

Set against the sentimental backdrop of the Vienna Woods and to the distant tune of a Strauss waltz, a community steeped in bigotry concerns itself with love affairs, petty squabbles, jealousies and personal tragedy. Meanwhile, society at large, haunted by inflation, goes reeling towards Fascism.

This energetic, hugely entertaining epic premiered in Berlin in 1931 as Nazi forces were gaining in strength.

The Travelex £10 Season
More than two thirds of tickets at £10
Tickets for this show are on sale from 19 May.

Tales from the Vienna Woods finished on: 19 November 2003