Colombo International Theatre Festival
How can anyone leave their home – the Rabtal! What makes the temptations of urban life so strong? And what might persuade one to move back? Rural depopulation represents an existential problem for the provinces. Finding a way to deal with it is not only a matter of infrastructure planning but a personal one, both for those who have moved away and the others left behind.
With their familiar edgy charm the Rabtaldirndln use an ‘Austria’s Most Wanted’ format to track down those who have left, look for answers on a case-by-case basis and make an effort to fill the gaps which have been left behind.
Country bumpkins themselves, who have now ended up in the (not so) big city of Graz, the Rabtaldirndln use a lot of humour in what is a very serious examination of those who have left home to look for happiness in the city. The role of women in both rural and urban society is of particular interest. Research is mixed with personal experience, and the claustrophobia and social norms of village life are combined with a sense of warmth and community. Why have an aunt, sister, best friend and even Josef all decided to leave?
The Styrian performance collective, uses its local connections as a recurrent theme. The social fabric of provincial Austria provides the inspiration for comic and touching popular dramas that address the audiences like close neighbors. With a theatrical vocabulary uniquely their own and their specific choice of material, the unmistakable Rabtaldirndln occupy a special place in the independent theater landscape. The Rabtal is the Rabtal and always will be.
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