Poetry slam competition

Graz word acrobats on a mission to defend their title

The Graz poetry slammers Christoph Steiner and Lisa Rothhardt(Bild: Matthias Stehr)

The Graz duo Christoph Steiner and Lisa Rothhardt want to defend their poetry slam championship title in Bielefeld, Germany, from Tuesday. Last year, the two won the team competition with a record number of points.

Last year, Christoph Steiner and Lisa Rothhardt took the title of best German-speaking poetry slammers to Austria for the first time, scoring 89.9 out of 90 points at the Schauspielhaus Bochum, the highest score in the history of these championships.

So it's no wonder that the two actors from Graz want to win the team competition again this year at the German-language Poetry Slam Championships, which will be held from November 19 to 23 in Bielefeld, Westphalia.

It's always like a big class reunion of poetry slammers.

Schauspieler Christoph Steiner

Christoph Steiner and Lisa Rothhardt are well known to young theater-goers in Graz, as both are members of the Next Liberty ensemble - and have long been big names in Austria's poetry slam scene. They are entering the renowned competition as the duo "Tommy and Annika" (based on their roles in the play "Pippi Longstocking") with corresponding ambition.

Christoph Steiner and Lisa Rotthardt in action(Bild: Matthias Stehr)

Meticulous preparation
"We spent a year meticulously preparing for our performance. After all, we have to present texts that we have never performed in front of an audience before. Our excitement is correspondingly high," says Steiner to "Krone". Eight teams from German-speaking countries will compete against each other in Bielefeld, only three of which will make it to the final in the Stadthalle. "It's always like a big class reunion of poetry slammers."

Among other things, the texts have to be interesting for a wide audience - up to 3,000 spectators are expected. "That's why we chose the topic of democracy. In Germany, the Ampel coalition has just collapsed, Donald Trump was recently re-elected as US president and it was a super election year in Austria," says Steiner. Rothhardt emphasizes: "For us, performing is also a kind of personal processing of issues that concern us. And democracy is ultimately something that concerns us all."

Cherry on the cake
Despite all the nervousness in the run-up, the Graz duo's anticipation prevails. Rothhardt: "If we could bring the title to Graz like last year, it would be the cherry on the cake, so to speak."

Philipp Braunegger, Steirerkrone