Nicholas Ofczarek & Tamara Metelka Read Thomas Bernhard: "My Prizes"

No Austrian writer in the second half of the 20th century polarized audiences like Thomas Bernhard (1931-1989). Commanding in language, uncompromising, and always ready for scandal, he held up a merciless yet amusing mirror to his country and its cultural establishment - and was celebrated internationally and translated into more than 40 languages for it.

In his autobiographical prose "My Prizes," Bernhard delivers a satirical and ironic reckoning of the honours bestowed upon him - and the grotesque rituals surrounding their presentation. The funniest and sharpest chapter of this book is devoted to the scandal surrounding the Austrian State Prize of 1968 and has become legendary in literary history.

In their staged reading, Burgtheater star Nicholas Ofczarek and his wife and colleague Tamara Metelka, drawing on Bernhard's account of this scandalous prize ceremony, present a razor-sharp study of the fraught relationship between art and politics, brimming with wit, polemic, literary brilliance, and radical honesty.

Accordion: Vlad Cojocaru