Variety in the Paper Mill

I admit: until a year ago, the term “variety show” mainly brought to mind can-can dancers, half-hearted cabaret acts, and champagne-sipping audiences. That drastically changed on 3 March 2023.

On that day, the artist couple Seraina and Marc Dorffner opened their “Papierfabrik Varieté Theater” in Klein-Neusiedl with their self-created and breathtaking acrobatic show “Ein * Motel”. And Marc Dorffner defines “variety” as: “A show with acrobatics, comedy, magic, and music, embedded in a continuous storyline.”

In March, their fourth self-produced show, titled “Stayin Alive: Blütenflug und Discolicht” (Flower Flight and Disco Light), ran every Friday, Saturday, and Sunday. The well-travelled and esoterically inclined Sosha is looking for a place in Marc’s shared flat, while he desperately tries to win the affection of a flatmate. Naturally, with a happy ending for both.

The approximately three-hour spectacle (including an interval) is a medley of the hippie movement and disco fever, where the nostalgic “Love & Peace” feeling is a little understated. Instead, there’s plenty of disco atmosphere: to “Rasputin” (Boney M.), “Gimme! Gimme! Gimme!” (ABBA), and of course, the Bee Gees.

But I can live well with disco fever too: when I bought my first records about half a century ago, samplers also featured tracks by the Bee Gees, and I loved them: “Stayin Alive”.

Back to the shared flat in the paper mill: it’s simply breathtaking when Krishan lands among the guests during bungee jumping. And when Malina and Krishan defy gravity on the trapeze at dizzying heights.

“We want to make the audience marvel and laugh,” says Marc Dorffner.
I think they succeeded.

Location

The accessible event space offers room for around 200 visitors. Approximately the same number of spotlight installations provide fantastic lighting effects. Free on-site parking. We are saving the last star only for the renovation of the historic inner courtyard, and you can already look forward to the next self-produced show “Kreuzverhör” (Cross-Examination) from 2 August, which will be a detective story involving the audience.

Service

A refined selection of beer and wine. Good snacks, which can be picked up self-service at the counter, or ordered and served at the table.