The Smallest Festival Theatre In Austria!

Have you ever heard of the smallest festival theatre in Austria? No? Then you really missed something!

Until a couple of weeks ago I also didn´t know it. At the first look it seems to be like every other house in the small village Thalsdorf, Carinthia. But it isn’t. If you enter this house, you enter a completely different world. It´s a world full of magic and fantasy, which fascinates everybody. The dreams of little children and childish adults come in this world true.

It takes Mr Popek - the owner of the festival theatre - nearly one and a half year to get a play ready. The scenery and the marionettes are all handmade by Mr Popek. He also is the only puppeteer at the theatre, because he doesn’t want other people to play at his puppet theatre. It’s his passion and he has a lot of fun.

There are only twenty to twenty-five performances from September to March, because Mr Popek doesn’t perform his plays in spring and summer. But it isn’t easy to get a ticket for his performances, although they are free. You can only go to the puppet theatre, if you’re invited by Mr Popek himself! Only close friends and people he likes have the chance to get a ticket.

He made six plays by now and they are all unique.  I’ve seen his newest play “Hoffmans Erzählungen”. All his plays are based on famous operas. Mr Popek chooses plays he likes and then creates his own interpretations of the famous operas. While he is playing, an audio CD with the music and the speaking of the people is playing in the background.

I was fascinated from the play and I didn’t mention that the play was three hours long, because it was so great. I really recommend Mr Popeks little festival theatre, because if you haven’t seen a play at this theatre you don’t know what magic is!