Claus Peymann

Heldenplatz centers on a Jewish family in the Vienna of 1988. The main character, Professor Josef Schuster, a mathematician, who can no longer stand the anti-Semitism he still finds in Austria 50 years after the Anschluss – commits suicide by jumping out of his apartment window onto the historic Heldenplatz before the play begins.

The bark-beetle has invaded the big forest of the general, just as a fatal illness has into the body of its owner. The general is suffering from eye cataract, preventing him from seeing the symptoms of the trees' decline, just as he is unable to see his own rottening. His wife and the writer discuss these circumstances for two scenes, until the general discovers the fact himself in the third one. Now he is going to take appropriate action.

Der Theatermacher ("The Theatre Maker") is a play by austrian writer Thomas Bernhard. It was released in 1984 and had its world-premiere the following year at the Salzburger Festspiele under Claus Peymann. Centered around main protagonist Bruscon, it is full with allusions to the famous festival in Salzburg. During a break in his latest tour the actor Bruscon tries to stage his play „Das Rad der Geschichte“ ("The wheel of history") in the small village Utzbach. He involves his whole family in the production as actors - wife, daughter and son. The production becomes increasingly difficult with Bruscons heavy mood swings. He turns out as a tyrant, dissatisfied with every detail - from stage to room temperature - and declares that the village is too small for his outstanding piece anyway. During rehearsals he constantly knocks the others down, highlighting himself as the important actor and theatre man.