About the work
"Oh no, not again!" is a theatre production by Aslı Kışlal, premiered at the Kasino of Vienna's Burgtheater (Schwarzenbergplatz). With humour, the evening takes aim at the art and theatre world and its self-regard. Aslı Kışlal, designated director of Vienna's Theater der Jugend, focuses in particular on attitudes prevalent in progressive, left-liberal milieus.
Plot
Rather than a continuous plot, the evening strings together fragmentary scenes and vignettes. Ensemble members and laypeople – as "experts of everyday life" (a concept in the tradition of Rimini Protokoll) – reflect on the theatre world and its self-congratulation. With ironic sharpness, "Oh no, not again!" exposes the hypocrisy of the art world: the gap between lofty claims (diversity, attitude, representation) and lived practice. The title itself – an exasperated "Oh no, not again!" – becomes a comment on the ever-same debates and rituals of the industry.
Cultural significance
"Oh no, not again!" stands for a self-reflexive, documentary-grounded theatre that makes its own institution the subject. By bringing together professionals and "everyday experts", it questions who is allowed to speak in the cultural sector and how credible its progressive self-description really is. The evening belongs to a body of work that treats representation, diversity and power structures in theatre not as assertion but as critical practice.