Billy goats and co.

Four-legged friends are the secret stars of the Festival

Goat Peter, poodles Boris (small) and Obelix and rat Fee delight the audience.(Bild: Markus Tschepp)

At the opera production of "Don Giovanni" as part of the Salzburg Festival, four animals on stage cause amazement among the audience. The quartet mastered their first performances with flying colors. But neither the rat, the poodle duo nor the billy goat have any stage fright. 

The secret stars of the festival neither sing nor speak. Nevertheless, they attract everyone's attention. Although the "secret" part soon comes to an end when Peter the billy goat, Fee the rat and the two poodles Boris and Obelix go for a walk not far from the Grosses Festspielhaus. "We're hard to miss," says Katja Hawliczek, the manager of the St. Pölten Filmtierhof, shortly before the meeting with the "Krone". The beastly good quartet is part of the performance of Mozart's "Don Giovanni" and has so far mastered its performances with aplomb. Because this is not new territory for the four of them. Their CVs include appearances in films, commercials and many other productions.

Bock follows dad
While Boris (toy poodle) and Obelix (large poodle) already appeared in Salzburg in 2021 under director Romeo Castellucci, Peter is making his debut in "Don Giovanni". Festival blood rushes through the veins of the three-year-old Tauernschecke, an endangered breed of farm animal. His sister Klara was part of "Greek Passion" last year, he himself follows his now retired father Josef in the new production and dashes across the stalls in one of the opening scenes. "He runs after a rattling bucket of food," explains Hawliczek.

The Tauernschecke makes her appearance at the beginning.(Bild: SF/Monika Rittershaus)

The Viennese has been working with the Festival, as well as the Festwochen and the Burgtheater, for almost two decades. During the opera, she is dressed up like her good friend Andrea, wife of Obelix and Boris, and her daughter Marlene. The latter mimes a bush that Fee, the rat, uses as a guide to walk purposefully around the stalls. "We trained her to do that. She is a very social animal and has a close bond with Marlene. She immediately checks where she is."

The quartet makes the audience laugh from time to time. But apart from that, there are always smiles on their faces. There are rarely any negative encounters. The positives outweigh the negatives. "Many people no longer have any connection to animals. When a child sees a billy goat for the first time, it can be very beautiful and formative."