Page - 54 - in Siting Futurity - The “Feel Good” Tactical Radicalism of Contemporary Culture in and around Vienna

54 siting futurity The troupe cultivated this feeling of homage by opening their performance with the ghostly voice of Willi Resitarits reciting the prologue from the 1977 recording and by having one of the actors on stage, Bernhard Dechant, take on the role of master of ceremonies and begin: Proletenpassion. Wir erwecken heute die Proletenpassion wieder zum Leben. Und genauso wie die Schmetterline 1976, erzählen auch wir die Geschichte der Revolution, die Geschichte der Klassenkämpfe, die Geschichte von unten. Denn wer will, dass sie nicht gelehrt wird? [Today we are again bringing the Proletenpassion to life. And just like the Schmetterlinge in 1976, [at which point he gives the audience a knowing look,] we too tell the history of revolution, the history of class struggles, history from below. Because who is it that doesn’t want it to be taught?]26 This introduction ensures that all those present are properly aware of the piece’s pedigree. WERK X is but one of a number of theaters performing hard- hitting, political plays in Vienna these days, and the Proleten- passion is but one of the many hard-hitting political plays in their repertoire. Yet it is the only one that taps directly into the moment in the city’s history when a movement emerged that surprised the entire city and initially also itself, with its energy, scope, and ability to self-organize and create on a small scale the type of society it wanted to live in, one based on full par- 26 The final line echoes the final one in the original overture. The premiere was recorded and shown on the oRF, Austria’s national broadcaster.