Ancestral Women

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

Let’s start with the past and with the mothers. To what extent do the four mothers correspond to what is associated with 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. It’s important to voice this—this body of thought from a distant past that hasn’t quite been left behind. How does a woman today deal with her ability to bring life into the world—or not? Is she 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, their work explores the realities of life and the harshness of existence.