Thomas Mraz

Comedy in German language.

"Now it's all about the people closest to me: Me! Me! Me!" That sets the tone. Thomas Mraz, an actor from Vienna known for his roles in “Aufputzt is” and “Vorstadtweiber,” hesitated for a long time but is now taking the cabaret stage alone for the first time. The title alone gives away who’s in the spotlight: “Mraz F1rst.”

The diagnosis is quick to make. In politics, on social media, and in the kindergarten WhatsApp group, everyone is competing for the win as hard as they can. We live in a society full of winners; everyone wants to be first, everyone has to be first. Whoever comes in second has already lost, been left behind, fallen by the wayside. These forces also affect a man from Favoriten who has rarely been first at anything. Very rarely. Actually, never.

So he asks himself his big questions, and they’re of a thoroughly down-to-earth, worldly nature. Is he aiming to be president of the allotment garden association? Is he opening a hot dog stand, just like the ones he remembers from back in the day? Is he old enough for early retirement yet? Is he a well-traveled cosmopolitan or a working-class guy from Favoriten—or both at once, a “cosmoprolet,” as he calls himself? And the question around which everything ultimately revolves: Is he perhaps just as selfish as everyone else?

For two hours, he dissects himself, and those in the audience find themselves taking stock of their own lives. A solo debut that doesn’t even bother taking a detour through others.

"The show’s title delivers on its promise. Everything revolves around him, the self-proclaimed ‘Cosmoprolet’ from Vienna’s Favoriten district, who delivers a two-hour, brutally honest, yet consistently likable soul-baring performance... Really funny!” (Kronen Zeitung)