Multi-talented

Konstanze Breitebner makes her debut as a crime novelist

Konstanze Breitebner is proud of "Death on the Understage".(Bild: Jürgen Hammerschmid)

Konstanze Breitebner has already proven herself many times on and behind the stage. Now the 64-year-old has ventured into new territory and made her debut as a crime novelist with her first novel.

The story should not be set too far away from her "natural habitat" - the stage: In her first novel, Konstanze Breitebner told the story of the death of a director from the Lower Austrian theater and a chief inspector with theater experience who takes on the horrifying case. She sees "Tod auf der Unterbühne" not only as her debut novel, but also as a personal declaration of love to the theater.

Breitebner literally takes you behind the scenes of the thrilling act ...(Bild: Jürgen Hammerschmid)

"I take the readers into my beloved theater world - behind the scenes, into the dressing rooms and down to the understage. A place that I have always found fascinating. Usually dark and labyrinthine, there are often changes going on during the performance, actors scurrying from one performance to the next, often changing their costumes at breakneck speed ... then you climb onto a lifting platform and float up into the glistening light of the spotlights in a few moments ... all this happens like a ballet, well practised, coordinated and mostly silent, because a performance is being played just a few meters above. It has to run perfectly every evening; a small carelessness can put everyone in danger, just as a grain of sand in the gears can destroy everything. Yes, there are dangers lurking down there too, if you don't pay attention or make a wrong move or arrive too late or, or, or ...", Breitebner praised her book.

"A summer theater thriller" adorns the cover.(Bild: Jürgen Hammerschmid)

Already "warmly written"
The actress has already proven with a number of screenplays that she knows how to handle words and has a lot to offer dramaturgically. It is now twenty years since she celebrated her sensational premiere as a screenwriter with "Paradise in the Mountains", which at the time had almost seven million viewers in Germany and one million here.

Her crime thriller will be available from May 25, 2024.