“Very proud and very happy,” Christian Kircher, managing director of the Bundestheater Holding, summed up the 2022/23 season yesterday – the first season without Corona measures. “We are over the consequences of this state of emergency.” Nevertheless, a bad-tempered red smiley clouded the outlook charts of his Powerpoint presentation: Multi-year financing planning is difficult. Some renovation projects, however, are on track. The casino on Schwarzenbergplatz, which is used by the Burgtheater, will be renovated starting this summer. The renovation will last until the end of 2025, and the casino will not be available to the new Burgtheater director Stefan Bachmann from autumn for the time being. Bachmann, who has announced twelve non-renewals in the ensemble, will soon present alternatives to this. Bachmann will be able to open the Academy Theater with new red velvet seating for 1.5 million euros.
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Either way, Martin Kusej’s Burgtheater can do with a boost in attention, as it remains the laggard of the federal theaters. Seat occupancy in all Burgtheater venues improved by 8.5 percentage points to 69.4 percent in 2022/23 compared to the previous season, but is even more clearly behind the Volksoper (78 percent) and the Staatsoper (98 percent) than before. This is “not an artistic question, but largely a consequence of Corona,” which affects spoken theater more than musical theater everywhere, said Kircher.
According to Kircher, the fact that the Burgtheater was the only subsidiary of the Federal Theater to have a negative annual result in 2022/23 was due to investments in two major projects for heating and electricity. In addition, the basic compensation, which totaled 186.9 million euros in 2023, was divided according to a mode that ensured the subsidiaries had approximately the same reserves in relation to their budget and thus reduced castle reserves. “The Burgtheater is a very healthy company,” said Kircher.
The level of self-funding has increased in each case: State Opera from 30.3 to 43.5 percent, Volksoper from 14.3 to 19.1 percent, Burgtheater from 20 to 21.2 percent. Ticket revenue in 2022/23 was “just below the all-time high,” said Kircher. A record is expected in 2023/24. The basic compensation of the federal theaters is developing continuously: from 186.9 million euros (2023) to 194.2 million (2024) to 203.8 million (commitment for 2025). According to Kircher, the valorization of the basic compensation remains the long-term goal.
