About the work
“Unter Tieren” (Among Animals) is a theatre text by Elfriede Jelinek. It premiered on 16 August 2026 at the Salzburg Festival on the Perner-Insel in Hallein, directed by Nicolas Stemann, as a co-production with the Burgtheater, which had already presented the text in a reading lasting several hours in May 2026. The stage version uses roughly half of the text, which runs to more than 200 pages.
Plot
Animals speak in place of humans, among them a bear, a cow, a rat, a pig, a badger, a dolphin and a dove. They debate capitalism, the creation and multiplication of money and its consequences for people and society. The arc stretches from the Bible to recent Austrian business scandals, such as those surrounding René Benko and the football club SV Mattersburg.
Cultural significance
Jelinek and Stemann regard the text as the second part of the economic comedy “Die Kontrakte des Kaufmanns”, which Stemann premiered in Cologne in 2009. The premiere audience in Hallein gave the production a standing ovation, while critics pointed to longueurs and the shifting focus of the text.