THEATER PERFORMANCE | CHICKENSHIT/BUTTERBROT
US Premiere (in the English version by
Alan Goodson and Jerry Marwig) of Gabriel Barylli’s play, one of the most successful shows in the German speaking world.
Stefan and Martin, two bachelors, share an apartment as an antidote to their poisonous experiences with women. They are preparing to celebrate the birthday of their friend Peter, due to arrive for dinner with his lovely wife Lilli. To their surprise, he arrives alone. It turns out that Peter has been cheating on his wife for ages but has just left her for giving him a taste of his own medicine. He decides to join his friends in their “male” household. It all seems ideal – until one day, Martin meets the woman of his dreams…
Alfons Haider
Peter Steiner
From the very beginning of Alfons Haider’s impressive career as an actor, singer, TV host and cabaret artist, the contact and direct interaction with his audience has always been his greatest concern.
After training in Vienna (The Conservatory of Vienna) and Los Angeles (Lee Strasberg Institute), he soon built a career in the most prestigious theatres. He appeared in international TV series, movies and TV productions as well as hosting shows for the ORF (the Austrian Broadcasting Corporation), which subsequently became his second professional foothold. His primary motivation is to entertain his audience, whether they’re in the theatre or in front of their TVs, which spurs him on to undertake ever new and challenging projects.Since his debut in 1975 at the Theater der Jugend (Vienna’s Youth Theatre), Alfons has slipped into the roles of princes, lovers and kings in over more than 80 theatre productions. He played some of these parts many times over the years: The emperor Franz Joseph in Sissy, the King of Siam in The King and I and Willi Forst in Bel Ami as well as the prince of Denmark in Hamlet, Daniel Kaffee in A Few Good Men, the ‘rare bird’ Zaza in La Cage aux Folles and the reckless director Zach in the Broadway production of A Chorus Line. He also enjoys performing in more intimate productions, such as Gabriel Barylli’s Butterbrot, seen recently at the Wiener Kammerspiele.
Alfons landed his first movie role in Himmel, Scheich und Wolkenbruch, followed by Happy Weekend, a German-US co-production. His major TV productions include Ringstrassenpalais (Count Artenberg), plus several appearances in Tatort, Schloss am Woerthersee and Dolce Vita. He proved his versatility when he played the controversial politician Vysloczil in the TV series Kaisermuehlenblues and appeared in the impromptu TV seriesDie liebe Familie. Three international TV series, La lumière des justes, Tourbillons and Riviera complete the range of highlights of his career as a TV actor.In 1989, Alfons ventured into a new field in his career: Chat-shows and, later on, live shows became his second passion. He soon emerged as Austria’s number one television personality and hosted over a thousand shows, such as “Licht ins Dunkel”, “Lifeball”, “Musical! Die Show”, “Dancing Stars” and “Starnacht am Woerthersee and in the Wachau”. Since 1995 he has presented the most prestigious Austrian ball – the Vienna Opera Ball – which is followed live on TV by millions of viewers.
He has also more recently become one of Austria’s most renowned cabaret stars, playing stages from Vienna to Los Angeles (Friars Club) and New York (Carnegie Hall). Since 1995, it’s in these musical revues full of subtle social criticism, parodies and irony where he has found his personal place within the Austrian cabaret scene.
This production of Chickenshit finally brings Alfons back to Vienna’s English Theatre’s stage after his memorable performance in Butterflies Are Free in 1990.
Howard Nightingall
Stefan Kowalsky
Howard is from London and trained at the Academy of Live and Recorded Arts.
His theatre credits include Larry in Closer (Ensemble Theatre), The Lieutenant in TheMan of Destiny (Kings Head), Flash Harry in Dry Rot (Channel Theatre), Fred in Present Laughter (Kevin Wood Productions), Stephen Hawking in Hawking’s Dream (Teatro Technis and dietheater Künstlerhaus), Michael in Wienerleben (European tour), Frederic in The Pirates of Penzance (Volksoper), the Scottish transexual policeman in When Did You Last See Your Trousers (National Tour) and Frosch in Die Fledermaus (Wienerkonzerthaus.); Sergius Saranoff in Arms and the Man, Horatio in Hamlet, Sergeant Trotter in The Mousetrap, Jimmy Porter in Look Back in Anger and Joe Pitt in Angels in America (all for International Theatre, Vienna). His previous roles for Vienna’s English Theatre include The Young Man in the World Premiere of Three Tall Women, directed by Edward Albee, Malcolm in Bedroom Farce, The Surley Man in Lettice and Lovage with Rue McClanahan, William Humphries in 84 Charing Cross Road, Ross in the European Premiere of The Goat, Barnette Lloyd in Crimes of the Heart, William Taylor in Donkeys’ Years, Dr Alfred Feldmann in Duet for One, Michel Vallon in God of Carnage and James Dodd in Time Stands Still.
Howard has directed productions of Alan Ayckbourn’s Relatively Speaking at Vienna’s Kammeroper and Marc Camoletti’s, Boeing Boeing at stadtTheater walfischgasse.
His film and television work includes The Bill, Casualty, Catherine (Prix European award for TV Fiction), The Pilgrim Factor, The Rehearsal, MA2412 , Nous Nous Sommes Tant Haïs, Wilhelm Reich and The Devils Violinist.
Howard works extensively as a voice-over and narrates English versions of Universum for ORF. He has recorded three English CD’s in the Marko Simsa series: Mozart for Children, Classical Hits for Children and Vivaldi for children and is Dialogue Director for the children’s cartoon series Chi Rho for KIKA.
Dave Moskin
Martin Sterneck
Dave was born in New Jersey and grew up in New York City.
He’s returning to Vienna’s English Theatre once again, after playing Richard Ehrlich in 2012’s Time Stands Still.
As a child performer he was in numerous theatre and television productions including Oliver, Gypsy, the national company of The Rothchild’s and The Grassharp and Seesaw on Broadway.
Musical theatre credits include Berger in Hair at the Raimund Theater, Judas in Jesus Christ Superstar, Tommy, Footloose, Jekyll & Hyde, Vince Fontaine/Teen angel in Grease, and the Big Bopper in Buddy the Musical in Essen, Germany. Dave also sang the Rock Tenor part in Leonard Bernsteins Mass with the Tonkünstler Orchester NÖ at the Konzerthaus in Vienna and the Festpielhaus in St. Pölten.Theatre Productions in Vienna include Jamie in Territory, Ben in IZ, Leon/Nick in Speaking in Tongues, Shakespeare in Two Gentlemen of Verona, A Christmas Carol, Charlie in Over The Threshhold, I Love You, You’re Perfect, Now Change, Frank in How the Other Half Loves and Winston in 1984.
He is also the producer of, and plays “Jake” in The Blues Brothers Are Back, touring Europe and appearing most recently in the Wiener Stadthalle.
Film credits include Tootsie, The Godfather, Manhattan, Im Weissen Rössi 2013 and Good Morning Kabul.
At 19 he formed his own band and successfully played the New York club scene for years. In 1995, after 5 years of being a Pub musician in Kitzbühel, Dave came to Vienna and formed the band Pontiac Jones, opening for such acts as David Bowie and INXS. In 1999 and 2000 he represented Austria at the Eurovision Song Contest as the composer of the songs Reflection and All to You.
His voice is well known in Austria from various projects such as Discorama (Born To Be Alive), as well as radio and TV ads; (e.g. Maxchen for Maxmobil)
Dave studied acting in New York with Jack Waltzer and plays piano, guitar, and Percussion.
Gabriel Barylli
Gabriel Barylli was born in 1957 in Vienna. He works as an author, director and actor all over Europe.
Gabriel Barylli is the most-performed present day author in the German language. His play Butterbrot (Chickenshit) has had more than 150 productions throughout German-speaking countries and is still being regularly performed. The novel based on the play has sold more than 300.000 copies.
His play Honeymoon, which was created five years later as a sequel to Butterbrot, has already been produced at over 90 theatres Both plays have been adapted into films, with Gabriel Barylli as author, director and playing the lead role. For Butterbrot, Barylli has received the Bavarian Film Award for Best Dialogue.
Two of his plays have premiered at the prestigious Austrian National Theatre – the Viennese Burgtheater. Its theatre director at the time, Claus Peymann, says about Barylli, “Barylli is the Botho Strauß of Austria”. ‘Cosmopolitan’ praised him as “Europe’s answer to Woody Allen”.
Gabriel Barylli also ventured into the world of musicals with “I’ve never been to New York”, based on songs by Udo Jürgens, for Stage Entertainment. This musical soon turned into their most successful production in Germany. After a two year run in Hamburg, the musical is now being performed in Vienna and Stuttgart. So far more than 3 million people have seen the show; future productions are planned in Berlin, Tokyo and New York.
The “Sueddeutsche Zeitung” writes in its review of the musical’s premiere, “Thanks to Gabriel Barylli’s libretto the evening proved to be a grandiose theatrical event. – The miracle of Hamburg”.
For his performance in the French film “Une femme française” starring Emmanuelle Béart and Daniel Auteuil, Barylli was presented with the “Best Actor Award” by Richard Gere in Moscow. The director of this film was Régis Wargnier, who had received an Oscar for his film “Indochine”. Barylli was also awarded the prestigious “Grimme-Preis” as best actor in Germany in 1999.
Gabriel Barylli’s current project is the adaptation of Butterbrot (Chickenshit) for international productions.
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