''Komödienspiele Porcia'' is an annual

festival A festival is an event ordinarily celebrated by a community and centering on some characteristic aspect or aspects of that community and its religion or cultures. It is often marked as a local or national holiday, mela, or eid. A festival c ...

drama Drama is the specific mode of fiction represented in performance: a play, opera, mime, ballet, etc., performed in a theatre, or on radio or television.Elam (1980, 98). Considered as a genre of poetry in general, the dramatic mode has been ...

in the tradition of the ''

commedia dell'arte (; ; ) was an early form of professional theatre, originating from Italian theatre, that was popular throughout Europe between the 16th and 18th centuries. It was formerly called Italian comedy in English and is also known as , , and . Charact ...

''. It is held each summer at

Porcia Castle Schloss Porcia (Porcia Castle) is a castle in Spittal an der Drau, in the Austrian state of Carinthia. It is one of the most significant Renaissance buildings in Austria. History The construction of the castle began in 1533 at the behest of Count ...

in the

Austria Austria, , bar, Östareich officially the Republic of Austria, is a country in the southern part of Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine states, one of which is the capital, Vienna, the most populous ...

n town of

Spittal an der Drau Spittal an der Drau is a town in the western part of the Austrian federal state of Carinthia. It is the administrative centre of Spittal an der Drau District, Austria's second largest district (''Bezirk'') by area. Geography The town is located o ...

Carinthia Carinthia (german: Kärnten ; sl, Koroška ) is the southernmost States of Austria, Austrian state, in the Eastern Alps, and is noted for its mountains and lakes. The main language is German language, German. Its regional dialects belong to t ...

. After a group of

Viennese Viennese may refer to: * Vienna, the capital of Austria * Viennese people, List of people from Vienna * Viennese German, the German dialect spoken in Vienna * Music of Vienna, musical styles in the city * Viennese Waltz, genre of ballroom dance * V ...

dramatists around

Thomas Bernhard Nicolaas Thomas Bernhard (; 9 February 1931 – 12 February 1989) was an Austrian novelist, playwright and poet who explored death, social injustice, and human misery in controversial literature that was deeply pessimistic about modern civilizati ...

and

H. C. Artmann Hans Carl Artmann (12 June 1921 – 4 December 2000), also known as Ib Hansen, was an Austrian poet and writer, most popular for his early poems written in Viennese (''med ana schwoazzn dintn'', 1958), which however, never after were to b ...

had discovered the

Renaissance The Renaissance ( , ) , from , with the same meanings. is a period in European history marking the transition from the Middle Ages to modernity and covering the 15th and 16th centuries, characterized by an effort to revive and surpass ideas ...

courtyard of Porcia Castle for theatre performances, the festival opened in 1961 with an enactment of Shakespeare's ''

The Comedy of Errors ''The Comedy of Errors'' is one of William Shakespeare's early plays. It is his shortest and one of his most farcical comedies, with a major part of the humour coming from slapstick and mistaken identity, in addition to puns and word play. It ...

''. Since then, the festival has been held each summer in July and August. Stagings included notable guest appearances, as from

Fritz Muliar Fritz Muliar, born as Friedrich Ludwig Stand (December 12, 1919 – May 4, 2009), was an Austrian actor who, due to his huge popularity, is often referred to by his countrymen as ''Volksschauspieler''. Biography Born in Neubau, Vienna as the s ...

Erika Pluhar Erika Pluhar is an actress, singer and author from Austria and was born on 28 February 1939 in Vienna. Erika Pluhar is the daughter of Anna and Dr Josef Pluhar. One of her sisters, Ingeborg G. Pluhar, is a painter and sculptor. After finishing ...

Karlheinz Hackl Karlheinz Hackl (16 May 1949 – 1 June 2014) was an Austrian actor and theater director whose varied career included theater, television, film and cabaret performances as well as musical performances (singing). Biography Hackl was born and was ...

, and

Heidelinde Weis Heidelinde Weis (born 17 September 1940 in Villach, Carinthia) is an Austrian actress. Selected filmography * ''I'm Marrying the Director'' (1960) * '' Dead Woman from Beverly Hills'' (1964) * ''Condemned to Sin'' (1964) * '' Don't Tell Me Any S ...

. The ensemble's productions are regularly recorded by the national

ORF ORF or Orf may refer to: * Norfolk International Airport, IATA airport code ORF * Observer Research Foundation, an Indian research institute * One Race Films, a film production company founded by Vin Diesel * Open reading frame, a portion of the ...

broadcaster.

External links

ensemble-porcia.at
{{DEFAULTSORT:Komodienspiele Porcia Theatres in Austria Buildings and structures in Carinthia (state)