The ‘Twenties in Austria, or Away with Corsets.
The ‘Twenties in Austria,
or Away with Corsets. The work of Marie Thérèse Escribano, ranging
from music to theatre and stand-up comedy, has made her a favourite of the
progressive Austrian audience. Falter described her performances in the
acclaimed Viennese Dietheater as "... a mixture of pleasant
light-heartedness, banal, yet consistent observations of everyday life, and
amiably crazy ideas".
What makes her so special, apart from her wonderful and incisive
cabarets? It might be the fact that she was born in Paris
to parents of Spanish and Belgian origin, and that she grew up in Madrid. Or that she came
to Vienna in the mid-50s to study at the College of Music to be an opera singer and that she
succeeded in her endeavours. Or that, despite her success in opera, her voice
could also be heard from the apartments of the Viennese avant garde. With the
work of the Vienna circle (Gerhard Rühm, H.C.
Artmann) her solo career began, bringing her to prestigious stages around
Europe and the USA
under the direction of acclaimed condcutors such as Lorin Maazel, Pierre Boulez
and Friedrich Cerha. Later on she founded 'Les Menestrels', an ensemble
performing mediaeval music, but soon developd an interest in theatre. In the
70’s, the time of the awakening of the women movement, she performed, under the
influence of the Polish theatre guru Jerzy Grotowski, an
"ideologically" unconventional piece entitled Would You Like More
Femininity? in the Modern
Art Gallery.
From then on she has written and directed all of her performances, and
on stage, has been accompanied by musicians only. She has developed a unique
cabaret musical style, a kind of satirical mini-revue. Endlich wieder...,
which takes us to the decadent 20’s and 30’s,
was also created in this manner. If we think of the Austria of today,
the extreme right automatically comes to mind. (M.T. Escribano was one of the
first to sign the anti-Haider petition Keine Koalition mit dem Rassismus)
A similar situation occurred in the years between the two wars which, despite
their "sombreness" (or perhaps just because of it), exceeded in
humour and laughter. This is the time on which M.T. Escribano's performance is
based. In it she discovered "schlager" music, which contains:"...
images of whimsically flirtatious women in short skirts and knitwear... back
then the hero dressed as a gentle soul and held them in high esteem, willing to
die not only for the Fatherland but also for them. Probably without even
realizing it, the composers of "schlager" music helped to mitigate
the threat the approaching war was about to bring; thus sang the mother
"Adieu, mein kleiner Gardeoffizier"...That time was marked by the
trend of women's emancipation; women did away with their long dresses and
plaits, walked around with no corsets, took up smoking, and, despite the
warnings of the Church, swam naked in the Kritzendorfer baths…Later on, while
the men were at war, women took over their jobs and still managed to lead a
normal life and give birth…After the war, women again assumed their previous
role, slaving away in the kitchen to be kept financially dependent. It is up to
you to decide whether there are any parallels with the present." --
M.T. Escribano
Marie Thérèse Escribano; piano: Herberth Url
Organised and financed by City of Women
In cooperation with Cankarjev dom
