Vienna’s Burgtheater will visit Bregenz in summer 2026 to give guest performances of Molière’s Le malade imaginaire (The Imaginary Invalid) in a production by director Stefan Bachmann. The original plan was to suspend the Burgtheater’s series of guest performances for two years on account of cuts made by the subsidy providers. Thanks to a special grant from the Austrian Federal Ministry of Housing, Arts, Culture, Media and Sport to mark the 80th anniversary of the Bregenz Festival, the guest performances can take place in summer 2026. With Le malade imaginaire, the Burgtheater is bringing one of its most successful productions to Lake Constance.
The classic, first performed in 1673 and also the last play by the French master of comedy, exposes the human fear of illness and death with sharp wit and bitter humour. The central character is the hypochondriac Argan, surrounded by money-grabbing doctors and self-serving relatives – a grotesque game of self-deception and profiteering that is both highly entertaining and frighteningly topical. The first performance is on 24 July 2026 at the Theater am Kornmarkt.
24th, 25th July 2026 - 7.30 p.m.
26th July 2026 - 6 p.m.
Theater am Kornmarkt
Tickets and further information about Le malade imaginaire can be found here.
Photos of Le malade imaginaire at the Bregenz Festival will be available below from 24 July 2026.
