In 2012, the world will end and the devil will come for us. At least that is what the prophecy of the Mayan calendar predicts. The impending doom is already casting its shadow. Books on the subject are flooding the market. Blockbusters and documentaries are being shown and the regulars’ tables are getting heated. A hysteria tailor-made for a production by the THEATER HAUSRUCK.

It is fitting that 2012 also marks the 200th anniversary of an event that also had an apocalyptic, fanatical effect in the Hausruck region.

It all began with the arrival of the chaplain Thomas Pöschl in Ampflwang, the founder of a Christian sect who, two centuries ago, expected the return of the Lord, the end of the world and the Last Judgement. The end result was the founding of a “new” church, fear and terror, murder and ritual murder.

Chris Müller and the team at THEATER HAUSRUCK take up the story of religious fanaticism and the longing for death, the eternal battle between good and evil and man’s ongoing struggle with his God. The historical material is equally suitable as a template for philosophical and theological excesses as it is for excursions into horror and splatter cinema. At the same time, it appears like a window through which the past casts significant highlights on our present.