Elizabeth II - No Comedy

Sven-Eric Bechtolf | Rudolph Herrenstein
Christian Higer | Richard
Gunda Schanderer | Miss Zallinger
Lutz Zeidler | Doctor Guggenheim
David Bösch | Direction
Patrick Bannwart | Stage Design
Bianca Stummer | Costumes

"Everyone loves theater, loves depravity" (Thomas Bernhard)

The industrial magnate Herrenstein, 87, has been confined to a wheelchair since an accident. He lives with two employees in a stately apartment on the Vienna Opera Ring, overlooking the State Opera. Vienna is unbearable for him, so he packs his bags, wanting to flee to Altaussee. Or to Semmering. However, he cannot endure either Semmering or Altaussee any better than the city. When the English Queen comes on a state visit, all sorts of acquaintances invite themselves to Herrenstein's place to see the Queen from his balcony.

"Elisabeth II." is Thomas Bernhard's penultimate play and the one he did not see performed during his lifetime, thus it serves as a kind of legacy, as it once again traverses Bernhard's entire theatrical cosmos—from high comedy to deadly despair.

The role of Herrenstein is embodied by Sven-Eric Bechtolf, a long-time Burgtheater actor, multiple Nestroy Award winner, and former artistic director of the Salzburg Festival, who has already presented Bernhard and Kafka in Gmunden in a congenial manner in recent years. The direction is by the artistic director of the Landestheater Linz.

A collaboration of the Salzkammergut Festival Weeks Gmunden 2026 with the Landestheater Linz.