Ancestral Women

The Austrian women’s collective Rabtaldirndln explores its roots. What drives them: feelings, fears, preferences? Where does it all come from—have their ancestors left their mark?

Let’s start with the past and with the mothers. To what extent do the four mothers correspond to the archetype of the mother? What expectations did they have of themselves as mothers? To what extent did they succeed in achieving what they set out to do? Or did they perhaps not set out to do anything at all? And what is “the mother” anyway? The Rabtaldirndln question their mothers without shame, without taboos. They lie down on their mothers’ sofas and delve into the primordial feminine mud.

The mother—an ideal that feels as old as the entire history of humanity. The mother is the role in which a woman in a patriarchal world earns (or has earned) her right to exist. We need to voice this once and for all: this body of thought from a distant past that hasn’t quite been left behind. How do women today deal with their ability to bring life into the world—or not? Are they free in this regard? The journey of exploration into constructions of motherhood and reality—which was awarded the Nestroy Theater Prize for Best Off-Production—brings the Rabtaldirndln to Tyrol for the very first time! Since 2003, this four-member theater collective from Graz has been creating contemporary theater productions of universal relevance and biting humor. With great sensitivity and from a female perspective, they explore the realities of life and its harshness.