Stage and costume designer Esther Frommann sets the scene

Artists are particularly affected by the Corona pandemic: they are not allowed to play or perform. Concert halls, stages and cinemas remain closed. Theatres are postponing productions. But they have to be ready when the curtain rises again and they can play in front of an audience again. When this happens is always subject to change, usually at short notice. Stage and costume designer Esther Frommann also needs good nerves.

"We are challenged to the maximum, act flexibly and prudently and then still have to accept closures," says Esther Frommann. The stage and costume designer is a freelancer, so she is doubly challenged in times like these. She tries to do it with humour and drive: Just keep going! Her many years of experience and a good network help her in this.

Esther Frommann studied stage design at the Academy of Fine Arts in Vienna. Design, creation and realisation of scenic spaces, as it says in the training profile, were to be her world in the future.

She came to costume design by chance. At some point, a colleague asked if she would like to make the costumes for the play. Being the hands-on person she is, Esther Frommann simply gave it a try. And here, too, she showed great creativity, a feeling for characters, for colour combinations - and the necessary bite to put the ideas she developed into practice.
After several years as an assistant at various theatres in Germany and Austria, from the Staatstheater Stuttgart to the Burgtheater in Vienna, Esther Frommann went into business for herself. 17 years ago she moved to Innsbruck. Since 2007 she has been directing the Staatstheater together with actresses Carmen Gratl and Ute Heidorn, who prefer to stage their plays in Innsbruck's Treibhaus.

Frommann is a professional through and through, working for film and television, designing set designs for TV and cinema productions, for documentaries, music videos, image and advertising films. She creates stage worlds for large and small theatres, creates costumes for dramas and comedies, for musicals and operettas. Her collection has grown enormously over the years, filling several rooms. Frommann likes to roam flea markets. She buys dresses and hats, shoes and other accessories - from human hair wigs to enamel mugs.

The chaos in their fundus is of course only an apparent one. It is not least due to the lack of time and always the lack of space. "There are also things that were purchased for projects, left over and then appear again sometime and somewhere and in a completely different way," says Esther Frommann. Fabrics, collected materials and accessories are important to her when designing.

Whether the budget is big or small, creativity is Esther Frommann's top priority. "Of course, ideas are easier to implement with a lot of money. Especially when there are not many funds available, a maximum of creativity is required to create something great," says Frommann.

When the well-known Tyrolean actress Lisa Hörtnagl founded the Volkskantine association last summer in order to implement the "Pandemic Project", Esther Frommann was Threepenny Opera esther Frommann was of course immediately on board. In August 2020, the premiere took place at Mentlberg Castle in Innsbruck. The play was performed in all weathers. The set designer was also challenged to the maximum. But Frommann loves such challenges.

In her workshop in Zollerstraße she is currently working and tinkering on current productions. The musical comedy "The Fireworks", which was to have premiered at the TLT in January 2021, had to be postponed due to Corona. The play would be replaced by a punchy farce. "Suite Surrender" is set in the 1930s.
For Frommann, that meant throwing everything over and designing new costumes to fit the play. The State Theatre, which already has Elisabeth T . Spira 's "Everyday Stories" on its schedule for spring 2020, also wants to be outfitted. So that everything is ready when the theatre curtain rises again.

Tiroler Landestheater
Rennweg 2
Tel. +43 512 52074
Mail tiroler@landestheater.at
www.landestheater.at

State Theatre
info@staatstheater.at
www.staatstheater.at

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Photos, unless otherwise stated: © Susanne Gurschler