We celebrate a region. The region is more than us. It has always been there and will remain long after us. Only traces are etched over the millennia. It shapes the people, their stories, and values. These seem stable, but something is always on the brink. The Rabtaldirndln pitch their tents in Gosau to immerse themselves in this region and explore the prevailing values. They load the compass onto their phone and, with a modern dowsing rod, traverse the area. They try to observe, to hear what makes a sound, what speaks. They collect relics and stories from past times to uncover a way of life layer by layer. They realize that patriarchy is embedded in all structures and matriarchy — in the landscape.

The Rabtaldirndln are a four-member theater collective from Graz that has been continuously developing its own form of expression since 2003, with members Barbara Carli, Rosa Degen-Faschinger, Bea Dermond, Gudrun Maier, and Gerda Saiko (until 2021). The collective incorporates performance and theater elements to create contemporary theatrical evenings. The productions are of universal significance, infused with pop culture elements, and often sensitively address relevant themes.

Their works reflect the contradictions of rural life: the bourgeois-patriarchal pressure exerted by a village community on the one hand, and community, warmth, and identification on the other.

in the Open-Air Museum Gosau, July 12-14

CONCEPT & IMPLEMENTATION: Die Rabtaldirndln and Ed. Hauswirth

DIRECTION: Ed. Hauswirth

ACTING: Barbara Carli, Rosa Degen-Faschinger, Gudrun Maier, Angelina Schallerl

TECHNICAL DIRECTION: Lorenz Meiler

SET DESIGN/MAKEUP: Georg Klüver-Pfandtner

SOUND: Benno Hiti

Tickets are available here.