Automatenbüfett

Anna Gmeyner was born in Vienna in 1902 and, like the female heroes in her plays, remained a self-determined outsider, a figure of transit. The technical advancements and the reactionary bourgeoisie of her time were the inspiration for her first play, AUTOMATENBÜFFET, written in 1932. The play is set in a restaurant where food, beverages and even music can be ordered at the touch of a button. This restaurant attracts a horde of citizens from a small town. They are greedy and eccentric, selfish and depraved, and are dreaming of better economic times. Swiss director Barbara Frey brings Anna Gmeyner’s almost- forgotten tragicomical folk back onto the stage.