Theater director Stefan Bachmann moves from Cologne to Vienna

Stefan Bachmann will be the new director of the Vienna Burgtheater in September 2024. This was announced by the Austrian Secretary of State for Culture, Andrea Mayer, on Wednesday morning. Good news for the Viennese audience – but also for the Swiss theater maker, who has thus been placed in the highest league of theater makers.

The appointment to the “Burg” marks a career highlight. After all, it is the largest German-language theater and one of the oldest in Europe. It not only stands for Austrian national pride. In the theater scene it is still seen as a stronghold – as a bastion of theatrical tradition, but even more as a venue in which quality standards are to be set.

A troubleshooter

Nobody should doubt that Stefan Bachmann can artistically live up to this claim. Over the course of his long career he has become acquainted with all possible forms of theatrical art. Born in Zurich in 1966, he was already involved in acting when he was a student. In 1992 he founded the group Theater Affekt with fellow students at the Freie Universität Berlin, with which he gained a good reputation in the independent scene.

From 1998 he also proved his love of experimentation as theater director at the Theater Basel. In 2003 he became artistic director at the Cologne theatre, where he was able to prove his flexibility as a manager and troubleshooter: Despite the lengthy renovation of the building, the theater was able to continue operating.

During his time in Cologne, where his contract was repeatedly extended, Bachmann repeatedly found time to work as a director at other German-speaking theaters. In 2012, for example, he most recently staged “Genesis” at the Zurich Schauspielhaus. He has also distinguished himself with successful theater productions at the Burgtheater, in 2012 with an award-winning production of Elfriede Jelinek’s “Winterreise”.

A political challenge

The fact that Stefan Bachmann’s election as the new director of the Burgtheater was not without noise and excitement is not due to him, but to his predecessor. Martin Kušej, in Vienna since 2019, initially applied for an extension of his contract. Yesterday, however, he announced that he wanted to resign from his post – he lacked the confidence of the state sponsorship of the house. Kušej was obviously trying to keep the impression that he was leaving of his own volition.

In fact, it had become rumored months ago that his re-election as Burgtheater director would not be a matter of course. His directorship was greeted with reservations from the start, and his own productions only met with limited success. The public resented the fact that he temporarily withdrew during the pandemic to write an autobiography instead of meeting the challenge with streaming offers. Finally, the rumor that the “old white” director with his authoritarian management style was responsible for various departures in the ensemble and on the executive floor scratched his image.

Initially, the Austrian Ministry of Culture would have liked to appoint a woman to succeed Kušej. But after the two most named candidates, the Swiss Barbara Frey and the German Anna Bergmann, had canceled, the way was clear for Stefan Bachmann. The management of the Burgtheater is an honorable task, but also an artistic, social and political challenge, as Kušej’s personal details show not for the first time. The Swiss should be warned. He was also confronted with rumors of bullying in Cologne, but so far he has been able to deny the allegations.