International: Landestheater: “Bring the Broadway feeling to Salzburg”
The Salzburg State Theater will stage English-language productions from December. The play “Shirley Valentine” will kick off at the Aigen rehearsal center.
SALZBURG. The South African actress Janna Ramos-Violante has always seen the theater as ideal for “building bridges and bringing people together, whether on stage or in the audience,” says Ramos-Violante, who came to Salzburg five years ago and works at the Salzburg State Theater.
Manageable offer
When she arrived in the city of Mozart, she was all the more surprised that the range of English-language theater productions was quite limited.
“Salzburg is so cosmopolitan, exudes so much international flair, especially in the cultural area. And yet there are very few productions in English or in another language,” says Ramos-Violante, who played, among other things, in “Cyrano de Bergerac” at the Landestheater. She has already received theater awards and prizes for directing and her work as an author.
New series of English language productions
During a conversation with the director of the state theater, Carl Philip von Maldeghem, the idea of ”creating something in this area” matured more and more. “It quickly became clear that we both wanted to push that. Theater is so empathetic, it can connect people from all parts of the world and shows how diverse our world is. Many people travel to experience English theater. We want the opportunity to experience the ‘Broadway feeling’ on your own doorstep, so to speak.” With the new series of English-language productions, we want to start on this path,” explains Ramos-Violante.
Opening with “Shirley Valentine”
The “International Theater Salzburg” will kick off on December 8th with the premiere of “Shirley Valentine” in the Aigen rehearsal center, in which Janna Ramos-Violante will also be on stage as Shirley.
“It’s such a universal piece that touches people’s hearts. Shirley Valentine expresses what many people only think. The piece is funny and touching at the same time and gives courage. We need that especially in these times. People should go to the Theaters come to spend a good time together with others and to forget the worries and hectic pace of everyday life for a few hours,” says Ramos-Violante.
In March 2023, “Hamlet” is the next play on the program of the “International Theater Salzburg”. Janna Ramos-Violante will also be on stage there. “This will show a new version of Shakespeare’s ‘Hamlet’,” reveals the South African native.
Two to three productions a year
In the future, two to three productions will be shown every year as part of the “International Theater Salzburg”. “Here we want to work with native speakers. It is also possible to play a piece in a language other than English. We think ‘out of the box’ here, as they say. Now we want to start small so that it can grow and points of contact with our audience can develop,” emphasizes Ramos-Violante.
You can find a report on the musical “Hair” here:
The musical “Hair” premiered at the Felsenreitschule
You can read an interview with Andreas Gergen, Nicola Kripylo and Wolfgang Götz about the musical “Hair” here:
Landestheater brings the musical “Hair” to the stage