Dead at Last, at Last No More Air

Foreword by Diana Damian Martin

Werner Schwab’s final work, also known as a theatre-extinction comedy, is a brutal, irreverent and bizarrely comical piece about what happens when an emerging stage production is sabotaged by outsiders. Following a dispute with the cast, the director replaces all the actors with pensioners from a nearby home for the elderly. At first compliant and polite, the ’forgotten and dispossessed’ gradually start to question the director’s authority, leading to a ’coup d’état’ where the theatre’s cleaning lady is selected as the group’s leader. Not everybody survives the new order.

Werner Schwab was only thirty-five years old when he was found dead in his room following a New Year’s Eve drinking spree in 1994. He was, at the time, the undisputed star of German speaking theatre who effortlessly rose to fame for his unique talent with language and his darkly humorous, confrontational narratives. In only four years, he completed fifteen plays with Dead at Last, At Last No More Air (Endlich tot, endlich keine luftmehr) being his last.

Werner Schwab is one of Austria’s most famous playwrights, second only to Thomas Bernhard in popularity. He was only 35 years old when he was found dead in his room following a New Year’s Eve drinking spree in 1994. He was, at the time, the undisputed star of German-speaking theatre who effortlessly rose to fame for his unique talent with language and his darkly humorous, confrontational narratives. In only four years, he completed fifteen plays with Dead at Last, No More Air (Endlich tot, endlich keine luft mehr) being his last.