Ferdinan Schmalz, born in 1985 in Graz as Matthias Schweiger, studied theater, film and media and philosophy as elective. He is a member of the free collective mulde_17 and co-founder of the festival Plötzlichkeiten. Among other things, he also wrote commissions for the Schaupielhaus Graz and Zurich, the Schauspiel Leipzig and the Burgtheater in Vienna.

In 2017, Schmalz received the Bachmannpreis for his text mein lieblingstier heißt winter, which tells the story of Franz Schlicht, a frozen food salesman, who sets off in search of a frozen body and encounters all sorts of bizarre people. In 2018, his text jedermann (stirbt), a new rendering of Hofmannsthal’s mystery play for the Burgtheater, received the Austrian NESTROY prize for theater.

Meticulously and with a powerful feel for language, Schmalz deconstructs what we generally know as grammar. He juggles with the structure of sentences and adds a certain finesse to his language that creates its own distinctive musicality, particularly when read out aloud. He likes to dedicate his texts to the absurdities of everyday life and encourages his audience to stray off the beaten path – in language, but also, and most of all, beyond that.

Schmalz’ newest play bumm tschak oder der letzte henker premiers at the Bregenzer Festspiele in 2025. The coproduction with the Burgtheater is staged by Stefan Bachmann, who is the artistic director of the Viennese theater.

What is this play about, what can you expect? We asked Ferdinand Schmalz:

irgendwo zwischen den zeiten, in nicht allzu ferner zukunft, stürzt er, stürzt einen klaren da in sich hinein jetzt er, der josef. und denkt in sich, dass sie, die leute, einen durst. immer haben sie, die leute, einen durst, egal, was das für zeiten, die da draußen lauern.