Aufstieg und Fall des Herrn René Benko

Ever since Galeria Karstadt Kaufhof declared insolvency, Austria’s former richest man has also attracted notoriety in Germany: René Benko made headlines for months in 2024 when his real estate conglomerate Signa Holding went bust. This was Austria’s biggest bankruptcy since 1945. Even millions in German state aid more or less vanished into thin air. Now unfinished building sites are likely to scar a whole series of cities for years to come. The path that led to this point appears to have been provided by an impenetrable mix of unscrupulousness, billionaire cronyism and a flawed financial system. In January 2025 Benko was placed in investigative custody in his home city of Innsbruck. For months director Calle Fuhr and the investigative reporters DOSSIER have worked together to untangle the story of the rise and fall of the “miracle-maker” Benko. The result is a remarkable evening of theatre somewhere in between stand-up comedy, a TED talk and a lecture performance. It turned out to be so popular, it was forced to move from the smallest to the largest venue at the Volkstheater in Vienna. Following guest performances at the Berliner Ensemble and an invitation to the Radikal jung Festival in Munich, Calle Fuhr’s entertaining solo now comes to Schauspiel Köln in an updated version.