Stegreiftheater#

Gag Shows, impromptu theatre (German: Stegreiftheater, from the Middle High German word for stirrup), improvised plays performed with little or no preparation on the part of the actors. The characters and sequence of scenes are determined beforehand, while the dialogue is left to the imagination of the actors (cf. Commedia dell´arte). In Vienna, gag shows were performed in the 16th, 17th and 18th centuries, mostly on wooden stages erected on market squares, from 1711 at the Kaerntnertortheater. In the 18th century the popular plays centred on the character of Hanswurst; gag shows reached their peak under J. A. Stranitzky, G. Prehauser and J. F. Kurz. After the 1760s gag shows began to decline due to competition from the champions of regular theatre of literary and moral quality, which was especially promoted by J. v. Sonnenfels. The psychologist J. L. Moreno founded his own gag show theatre in Vienna in 1921, from which he gained important insights which led him to develop psychodrama as a form of therapy. Today, the only Viennese gag show theatre still in existence is the "Original Wiener Stegreifbuehne" (formerly Tschauner's theatre) in the district of Ottakring.

Literature#