Unterweger

Austrian prison poet, womaniser, journalist, convicted killer. Jack Unterweger was many things and over a lifetime he played numerous roles. Lastly, and not very convincingly, the innocent intellectual, whose second conviction in 1994 – for the murders of nine women – led to his suicide. During his first prison sentence, for the murder of an 18-year-old girl, Unterweger published the novel “Purgatory or the Journey to Prison” (1983), which brought him instant fame – even though it is now suspected that this was written by the author Sonja von Eisenstein, who provided Unterweger with literary assistance and would later attempt unsuccessfully to warn people about him. When his play “Last Stop Jail” was produced at the Volkstheater in Vienna, he was granted day-release. The signatories to a petition for his permanent release included Elfriede Jelinek, Ernst Jandl and Günter Grass. After 15 years in prison, he was freed – as a textbook example of “successful rehabilitation.” What is it about evil that attracts us? Why do we gain pleasure from identifying with monsters? And when should we treat someone with mercy? UNTERWEGER is an evening about pleasure and empathy, one that searches for our innermost desires – where we risk running into some sinister confessions.