Südkärntner Sommerspiele Eberndorf

The Südkärntner Sommerspiele take place every July and August in the courtyard of the former Augustiner-Chorherren-Stift in Eberndorf, southern Carinthia. The open-air stage stands in the middle of a walled enclosure once used by Augustinian canons. Each season brings one spoken-theatre production, mostly a comedy. The festival was founded in 1976 by Hubert Kummer and soon grew into one of Carinthia’s best-known theatre events. Ludwig Skumautz introduced both new plays based on local legends and classic farces such as Einen Jux will er sich machen. Later directors included Adi Peichl, Jörg Schlaminger—under whom the company staged rare antique comedies and a new German rhyming Tartuffe—and Patrick Steinwidder, a graduate of the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art. Recent seasons have featured two in-house productions and a show for children aged five and over. Visitors enter the old monastery precinct and find a gently sloping wooden stand seating 432 people. The stage itself is a simple platform backed by the stone walls of the former Stift. Performances start in the evening, when the courtyard lights come on and the actors bring to life comedies by Plautus, Molière, Goldoni or Nestroy.