Art & Theatre
»A unique house in its form for dance, music and theatre…«
Wolfgang Lanzinger in the local history book of the town of Dorfen (2006)
Robert Schuster and Martin Gruber have been working together on theatre projects for many years. The resulting KULA company is currently developing a network for transcultural projects together with the »Paper Tigers« from Beijing.
For this purpose BIRACH provides an »empty« protected space as a retreat for all conceivable forms of artistic exchange. Free of hierarchy, without dogma and transnational are the new ways of working and dealing which can be explored and the meaning and social purpose of art can be discussed, communicated and questioned.
Artist groups not only increase the diversity of artistic expression through the social and transformative processes experienced in such a retreat as Birach but in the best case will spark new impulses for a future worth living.
23.3.–4.4.26
Artists in
Residence
mit Elena Bechter; E-Mail: elena.bechter@icloud.com und
Slava Kushkov; E-Mail: kushkov@hotmail.de
Foto: © Elena Bechter, www.art-2020.info
23.8.–5.9.26
Geschlossene Gruppe
mit Robert Schuster und Ensemble;
E-Mail: chairos@gmx.net / Web: https://kulacompagnie.eu/
Performances from project developments
in BIRACH
Revival of Elisabeth Reichhardt's play about Dr Helene Druskowitz, who in 1878, aged just 22, became the first Austrian woman to gain a doctorate in philosophy.
Rehearsals for the premiere at the Salzburg Schauspielhaus took place in Birach in 2008 (see chronology below).
Acting: Maria Viertbauer
Director: Martin Gruber
Rehearsals for the transnational theatre performance
at the Großer Wasserspeicher, Prenzlauer Berg, Berlin.
A collaboration of 5 artist groups:
Kunstbetrieb BIRACH,
Paper Tiger (China),
Familie Flöz (Berlin),
NKT Neues Künstlertheater (Berlin),
Theatre Fragile (Berlin)
under the direction of Tian Gebing and Martin Gruber.
The film about the project will be released in the autumn of 2022.
Rehearsals for the play by Peter Handke:
The Hour When We Knew Nothing of Each Other
Co-production of Stadttheater Klagenfurt with Vereinigte Bühnen Bozen and KULA Compagnie
Directed by Robert Schuster
Choreographed by Martin Gruber. > CAST
Premiere: Stadttheater Klagenfurt, 10 October 2019.
Further performances in 2020 in Bolzano and National Theatre Belgrade.
Photo: © Vereinigte Bühnen Bozen
Making-Of-Video on YouTube: © Verena Schellander
»Strange! Lively! Intoxicating! Supreme pleasure, a rush of happiness. A highlight of the Hue Festival 2004.«
Street opera in Hue, Vietnam
Filming in Birach
»Sakkorausch« in Birach
Beau Désordre by Marianne Cornil 
The »Blue Night« at the Tucherschloss.
»… the most spectacular »Blue Night« programme to date at the Tucherschloss.«
Lavapolis / Friday in Venice – Video for the Architecture Biennale of Venice
Kula - To Europe
Malalai – the Afghan Maid of Orleans
500 Meters: Kafka, Great Wall or Images from the Unreal World and Daily Heroism
Europée – A National Assembly, DNT Weimar2018-2019 Rehearsals for Europée - A National Assembly. Transnational comedy by Robert Schuster and Julie Paucker. Choreography: Martin Gruber > CAST
Premiere : Deutsches Nationaltheater Weimar (DNT), 3 February 2019.
A production of the German National Theatre Weimar (DNT).
»… theatre can do that. Mythical, imperfect and wise as life itself.«
ZDF Kulturzeit - Report by Nil Varol, broadcast on 4.2.2019
Trailer on YouTube (Marius Böttcher)
2017 Rehearsals for Malalai – the Afghan Maid of Orleans after Friedrich Schiller.
A transnational theatre project by Robert Schuster and Julie Paucker.
Choreography: Martin Gruber. > CAST
Premiere: Deutsches Nationaltheater Weimar (DNT) , Kunstfest Weimar, 25 August 2017.
A production of the Deutsches Nationaltheater Weimar (DNT)
»… a star hour of transnational theatre work.« Thüringer Allgemeine from 28.8.2017
2017 Rehearsals for 500 Meters: Kafka, Great Wall or Images from the Unreal World and Daily Heroism. Premiere Thalia Theater, Hamburg, 26 May 2017 as part of »Theater der Welt 2017«
Concept: Tian Gebing, Christoph Lepschy, Director: Tian Gebing (Foto) > CAST
A production of the Paper Tiger Theater Studio, Beijing
2016 Rehearsals for Kula - To Europe. Transnational theatre project. Directed by: Robert Schuster, Text and dramaturgy: Julie Paucker, Choreography: Martin Gruber
Premiere: Deutsches Nationaltheater Weimar (DNT), Kunstfest Weimar, 1 September 2016.
A production of the Deutsches Nationaltheater Weimar (DNT) with Kunstfest Weimar.
In cooperation with Theater Freiburg. Co-production with La Filature - Scène Nationale - Mulhouse (Fr), Schauspielhaus Bochum (D), Kurtheater Baden (CH), Theater Chur (CH)
> MORE INFO
»… an excellent acting performance.« Thüringer Allgemeine from 9.9.2016
2014 Filming and video for Lavapolis/Friday in Venice
(Michael Schindhelm),
Transmedia Storytelling Project for
the Architecture Biennale of Venice
Video: Robert Schuster. Project to be read in: Lavapolis/Friday in Venice, ed. by Michael Schindhelm, ZHDK Zurich University of the Arts Center for Cultural Publishing Studies: Zurich/Switzerland, 2015, based on the book Michael Schindhelm: Lavapolis, Matthes und Seitz: > lavapolis.com
2013 Rehearsals for Dante, Death and the Devil, freely adapted from the Divine Comedy by Dante Alighieri. Street theatre in the Tucherschloss Nuremberg for the Blue Night. A homage to the artist Manfred Dinnes and his work exhibition Daidalos: Sculptures and Figurative Works. A retrospective. Information and video. Direction and text: Susanne Gösse-Gruber, costumes: Irene Hartmann, lighting and sound: Lighttone.de Participants: Sigrid Maria Schnückel, Thorsten Krohn, Raffael Mayer, Jannis Spengler, Charlotte Ullrich, Eva-Maria Viertbauer Organisation: Museum Tucherschloss Nuremberg (Ulrike Berninger), PSG Kunstevent Munich (Sybille Gruber). Supported by the Staedtler Foundation, Glorope, Lighttone.de,
All photos © Dr Florian Baumgartner, Graz, Austria.
» … the most spectacular »Blue Night« programme to date at the Tucherschloss.«
Museum Journal 45, 2013
2010
Beau Désordre, Marianne Cornil sings her own chansons and accompanies herself on the
accordion.
2008 Rehearsals for Sakkorausch by Elisabeth Reichart. Premiere: Schauspielhaus Salzburg,
Austria.Further performances: Kleines Theater Linz, Kornspeicher Wels, Theatertage
Weißenbach(Austria). Directed by Martin Gruber, played by Eva-Maria Viertbauer.
2005
An episode of Der Bulle von Tölz is filmed in Birach.
Press comment Mühldorfer Anzeiger vom 24.02.2005
2005 Performance in Birach: Die "andere" Heilige Nacht, directed by Jörn van Dyck,
played and sung by Bettina Mittendorfer.
2004 Rehearsals for Dialogues on Love. A street opera, after Claudio Monteverdi and Georg Philipp Telemann, Festival Hue (Vietnam). Further performances: Goethe-Institut Hanoi
(Vietnam), Festival Night of the Munich Opera Festival. Direction and choreography: Martin Gruber, dramaturgy and text: Susanne Gösse, costumes: Werkmeister, stage technology: Torsten Hauer. Participants in Hue: Singing: Monika Lichtenegger and Beate von Hahn, acting: Quoc Truong, accordion: Maria Reiter, choreography ballet: Cao Chi Hai, dance: Nguyen Chi Hier, Neo The Bach Mai. Participants in Hanoi: vocals: Beate von Hahn and Lauren Francis, accordion: Stefanie Schumacher. Performers in Munich: Vocals: Beate von Hahn and Monika Lichtenegger, accordion: Maria Reiter, acting: Jannis Spengler. Solo for accordion composed by Rudi Spring: Etude pour un Coeur en Confusion, op. 59a Nr. 1, 1994. Television documentary about the project on Vietnamese television "The Linking between Asia and Europe" on VTV 3. A cooperation with the Goethe-Institut Hanoi and the Leibniz Society for Cultural Exchange. Supported by the Bavarian Cultural Fund, the Cultural Department of the City of Munich, the W. P. Schmitz Foundation, Hypo-Vereinsbank Munich, Vietnam Airlines and others.
»Strange! Lively! Intoxicating! Supreme pleasure, a rush of
happiness. A highlight of the Hue Festival 2004.« Vietnam Express of 16.6.2004 and Thua Thien Hue of 19.6.2004
(translated from Vietnamese)
2003 Performance in Birach: The Parsonage Comedy by Heinrich Lautensack. Directed by Jörn van Dyck, starring: Bettina Mittendorfer, Barbara Dorsch, Norbert Entfellner.
2002 Performance in Birach: The Dream of Lena Christ. Adapted and directed by Jörn van Dyck, performed by Bettina Mittendorfer.
1997
Rehearsals for the international theatre project Beijing lan – Peking ist blau, premiered in Beijing (PR China), directed by Martin Gruber and Tian Gebing, idea and concept: Martin Gruber and Rainer Strecke, dramaturgy: Susanne Göße, stage: Xiao Ming, costume: Irene Hartmann, music: Rainer Kühn.
Participants: Diao Haiming, Viktoria Hauke, Li bin, Liu Dan, Ma Xiao Yong, Andrea Reiners, Rainer Strecke, Tian Gebing. Sponsored by the Goethe-Institut Beijing.
Süddeutsche Zeitung, 22.5.1990
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1993 Preview Autistenhochzeit in Birach, premiere at Gasteig Munich. Direction: Martin Gruber, costume: Irene Hartmann, text: Alexander Wagner. Participants: Mikaela Czich and Alexander Wagner.
»… an idiosyncratically sensual theatrical dream.« AZ Munich, 4.2.1993
1992 Premiere Hamlet. Ninety bloody funny minutes, idea and concept: Rafael Mayer, direction and costume: Irene Hartmann, stage: Burkhard Kissenkötter, music: Cornelius Schwer. Solo by Rafael Mayer. Hamlet toured throughout Germany and Austria from 1992-1996. (see photos above)
1992 Rehearsals for the Autistenhochzeit of the group Fisch & Lamas (see contact sheet). The following productions of the ZeltEnsembleTheater went on tour after Birach, further performances in Salzburg, Frankfurt, Düsseldorf, Klagenfurt, Cologne, Hamburg, Bochum, Berlin, Mülheim, Linz, Zurich and others.
1990 Performance Die Zukunft war früher auch besser, Karl-Valentin-Abend, directed and costumed by Irene Hartmann, solo by Rafael Mayer. Premiere 1989 in Bochum Bahnhof Langendreer, this Karl Valentin evening toured nationwide and in Austria 1989-1999.
1991 Premiere in Birach: Zur schönen Aussicht von Ödön von Horváth.
Production: Crescentia Dünßer, stage and costume: Irene Hartmann. Participants: Monika Fischer, Anne Levin, Michael Sattler, Alexander Wagner, Ulrich Walljasper, Peter Schwietzke, Otto Kukla.
1991 Der Untergang der Titanic von H. M. Enzensberger. A musical reading.
1990 Preview in Birach: Armut, Reichtum, Mensch und Tier by Hans Henny Jahnn. Idea and concept: Crescentia Dünßer, directed by the ensemble, co-directed by Ursula Karusseit, costumes by Irene Hartmann, music by Stefan Huber. Participants: Otto Kukla, Crescentia Dünßer, Ulrike Schlue, Michael Sattler, Alexander Wagner, Ulrich Walljasper.
The ZeltEnsembleTheater puts on a special performance to celebrate the 1200th anniversary of Niederbergkirchen.
1990 Die Geschichte vom Baum von Ingegerd Montan. A children's play. Costume design: Irene Hartmann. Performers: Alexander Wagner, Ulrich Walljasper, Otto Kukla.
1988 Premiere Ulenspiegel after Charles de Coster, in the theatre tent, Birach. Text: Robin Detje, directed by the ensemble (Otto Kukla, Jutta Masurath, Crescentia Dünßer, Waldemar Kobus, Jean Francois Le Moign, Heinke Hartmann, Rafael Mayer, Robin Detje); other contributors e.g. costumes by Irene Hartmann (see photo from programme), artistic advice: Günter Ballhausen
1987 Premiere Figaro & Co after Beaumarchais, Da Ponte, Mozart and Ödön von Horváth, in the theatre tent, Birach.
Directed by Robert Giggenbach and the ensemble, with Ulrich Noethen (see photo from programme).
