The day before

A party, maybe the last party before the war: In an immersive performance space, the audience forms a community of fate together with two performers, percussionists and a choir of young women. French philosopher Simone Weil already tackled Homer’s Iliad – the original myth of violence in war – in 1940, analysing the dynamics and mechanisms of incessant warring. Her thoughts have inspired the Austrian/Brazilian/Spanish trio Brigitta Muntendorf (composition), Christiane Jatahy (director) and Rosa Montero (text), who respond to Homer’s epic with a contemporary feminist position. Enter a 3D audio setting amidst live performance and camera footage to celebrate together – on the edge of the abyss.

Composition Brigitta Muntendorf 
Direction Christiane Jatahy 
Text Rosa Montero 

With Sofia Jernberg, Margaux Marielle-Trehoüart, Les Percussions de Strasbourg (François Papirer, Yi-Ping Yang, Tamara Kurkiewicz, Marius Schmidlin), Aduni Guedes, Landesjugendchor Wien, Nika Korenjak, Esther Beckstein, Lilla Kizlinger, Lucia Lukačková, Simón Serra, Marko Jovanovic, Peter Munkacsi and Michael Illich 

Costume Fauve Ryckebusch 
Stage design, Light design Thomas Walgrave (in collaboration with Júlio Parente) 
Photography and live camera Paulo Camacho 
Second live camera Joey Lose 
Sound direction Sebastian Schottke 
Dramaturgy Jana Beckmann, Martin Mutschler 
Programming, Live electronics Lukas Nowok 
3D Audio operation Banu Sahin

Production Commissioned by Wiener Festwochen | Freie Republik Wien Production Wiener Festwochen | Freie Republik Wien, KunstFestSpiele Herrenhausen 
Coproduction Les Percussions de Strasbourg

The production is funded by Kulturstiftung des Bundes.
Funded by the Federal Government Commissioner for Culture and the Media (Germany).

World premiere May 2026, Vienna Festival (Wiener Festwochen) | Free Republic Vienna