Scenography

"Go back, Tarquinius!" – comes the warning from the opera's narrator to the son of the Etruscan king. But the tragedy is already unfolding at pace: Tarquinius falls upon Lucretia, the wife of his comrade Collatinus, and rapes her, in spite of her fierce reistance. The next day, Lucretia takes her own life in public. Benjamin Britten's dark chamber opera, premiered in 1946 at Glyndebourne, resounds with the traumatic experiences of fascism and war.

This winter semester, directing students at the Thomas Bernhard Institute are working together with acting students from three different years and in cooperation with scenography students to develop productions based on an examination of theatre texts from antiquity.

Through purgatory to paradise – two voices of resistance. Two works – two perspectives on the unimaginable. Even 80 years after the end of the war, they raise big questions about the value of life, the power of art and human resilience. An evening full of intensity, musical beauty and profound humanity.

26th January 2026 sees the premiere of Benjamin Britten’s The Rape of Lucretia in the Max Schlereth Saal at the Mozarteum University. We spoke to the production team, Lena Matterne and Theresa Staindl, to learn more about their views on female identity, self-determination and social conscience.