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Theater premiere Blutbrot: The dark escape story of the Nazis revealed
Miriam Unterthiner's piece "Blutbrot" sheds light on Nazi refugee aid in South Tyrol. Premiere in the Theater Aachen, premiere in Vienna.
Theater premiere Blutbrot: The dark escape story of the Nazis revealed
A play about the dark past and helping Nazis escape is currently in the spotlight at the Theater am Werk in Vienna: “Blutbrot” by the talented author Miriam Unterthiner. Unterthiner, who was born in South Tyrol in 1994 and is celebrated as a “young author,” brings this work to the stage as an entertaining, yet thought-provoking piece of theater. The premiere took place two weeks ago at the Theater Aachen, and now the Austrian premiere directed by TomasSilence is causing a sensation.
But what is “Blood Bread” about? The piece humorously deals with the serious issue of helping Nazis escape after the Second World War. Gerhard Bast, a named Nazi, is cited as an example of those who helped escape at the time. The story also revolves around the Jewish escape routes and thus deals with collective guilt and the refusal to come to terms with it in the South Tyrol region, where many people between Austria and Italy do not feel that they belong to any nation.
A very special recipe for success
Unterthiner has done a good job: “Blutbrot” was not only awarded the Kleist Prize for New Drama, but is also on the shortlist for the Austrian Book Prize. This prize, announced on January 15, 2025, is worth 10,000 euros. As her final thesis for her language arts studies, she gave the piece a very special touch that thrilled the jury, who described it as poetic and concrete.
The production at the Theater am Werk, where TomasSilence was artistic director from 2015 to 2023, shines with Stephan Weber's creative stage, which depicts a mountain landscape that is also interpreted as a sourdough loaf. The choir, consisting of five actors in black, white and pink costumes by Giovanna Bolliger, brings a breath of fresh air to the proceedings and uniquely combines choral theater with an ironic look at traditional values.
Insights into the background
Unterthiner herself gets involved in the events and discusses her autobiographical background. She got her inspiration from conversations with her grandfather, who knew the smuggling routes well after the war. In this way, she succeeds in taking the audience back to a time when escape and denial of guilt characterized daily life.
The performance on October 10, 2025, which lasts one hour without an intermission, combines the dark story with humorous elements and thus creates a bridge to today's culture of remembrance. Unterthiner cleverly wraps it in the narrative of everyday life and makes clever use of a subject that is often repressed. This not only brings the harsh reality of the post-war years onto the stage, but also the fates of people who moved along the rat lines into anonymity.
The theater played an important role in the post-war period by not only entertaining but also addressing social conflicts. Like the historical theater performances of the post-war period, which often took place on makeshift stages to address guilt and responsibility, “Blood Bread” also proves to be a play that not only makes you laugh, but also invites you to think.
A program that moves and deeply touches has established itself in the theater at work, and with “Blutbrot” Miriam Unterthiner follows an invisible path between laughter and sadness, between guilt and responsibility.