Luckily, the City Audit Office took care of the matter – and found that it was an exemplary case of self-dealing. There were mostly only verbal agreements, and the holding of general meetings was generously dispensed with – as was the writing of minutes. With stoic calm, the examiners stated: “The expenses for the three leading theater positions, which are also personally identical to the association board,” would have amounted to up to 180,000 euros per year. Mind you, summer theater for just two months. And: The expenses for the chairman, i.e. Hirschal, “made up more than 50% of the amounts mentioned, and this person was also paid for their other artistic or performing activities”. Hirschal, who was also summer director elsewhere, got the money.
But he must have overdone it. The cultural office gradually reduced the subsidy – to 110,000 euros each for the years 2020 to 2022. The idea of touring through Vienna with the traveling theater made of wood had long since disappeared: Hirschal only pitched his tent at Am Hof – next to the posh boutiques.
The money for 2020 flowed without consideration: the corona measures made it impossible to play. For 2021, the subsidy was increased by 20,000 euros – with the absurd argument that it was a “Grätzel-relevant” theater. And yet Adi Hirschal was not enough: he built a loss of around 74,500 euros.
Georg Hoanzl and Michael Niavarani attracted 150,000 people to their open-air theater in the park last summer, they received no subsidies and made hefty profits. Hirschal, on the other hand, did not blame shallow play or nepotism for the 42% occupancy rate, only Corona.
He and Siegmund Ganswohl as the new chairman, we even went one better: Continuation would only be possible with a subsidy increase to 150,000 euros. Because the actors (including Hirschal) and the team (including daughter Maddalena Hirschal) would demand higher fees, and “repairs to the construction and renovation of the theater decorations (…) are urgently needed”.
But City Councilor for Culture Veronica Kaup-Hasler had the 73-year-old Adi Hirschal rebuffed. The principal cast himself in the leading role for the last time this year (he plays Tartuffe), after which the Vienna Lustspielhaus is history.
And what annoys some people: the city has given the Hirschal club an extra 70,000 euros in debt. Your gossip partner sincerely hopes that you have convinced yourself of the necessity of this special payment.