The murderer is almost always the gardener
Today, for once, it wasn’t the gardener, even though he played an alibi role in the HOSI Salzburg’s crime dinner in the Living Room. An event with a great fun factor.
Yesterday (23 April) saw the third instalment of a new event format from HOSI Salzburg. What began on Thursday with an extremely successful vernissage of the photo book project ‘ICH’ by Elfriede Pöttgen continued yesterday evening with the Queer Party and reached another magnificent climax tonight with the murder mystery dinner initiated by Gigi LaPajette.
Gigi adapted the story, wrote the moderation and, together with eight other Austrian drag queens, created a mixture of dinner and improv theatre at 9 tables with 12 guests each. While hardly anyone could have imagined how this would work beforehand, the enthusiasm was quickly unanimous.
The story and the concept: a dinner party was planned for the 50th birthday of a wealthy citizen. Unfortunately, the host Maximilian died shortly before the party. The body was found when the guests were already seated at the table, the consternation was great and the Commisario asked the guests to help find the murderer.
Each member of the dinner party played a role in the life of the deceased and speculation quickly began about the deceased’s lifestyle, devious intentions and possible motives for the murder.
Elsa von Hanter, the deceased’s suddenly widowed wife, was an Austrian drag queen at all nine tables, the other guests were Alice, the deceased’s sister and psychologist, Maximilian’s daughter Marie with her new life partner, the somewhat bizarre Professor Stefan, Maximilian’s best friend Robert, the house beautician Ilona, the porn producer Sascha, the estate agent Brigitte, the house manager couple and walter, the house lawyer.
During the three-course meal, wild discussions unwind as to why who might have had a motive for this murder. Amazing insights into the secret lifestyles of all the family members came to light. It was great how quickly each guest slipped into his or her role and so great fun developed.
The murderer is almost always the gardener
Not today. He was the seducer of the murder victim’s sister, which she only revealed after much hesitation. When her brother was murdered, she was having sex with the 20-year-old gardener in the summerhouse.
Elfriede Pöttgen and her kitchen team cooked a three-course meal to accompany all these stories. And the HOSI Salzburg team organised the service brilliantly. After all, it is not an everyday task for HOSI Salzburg to cater for 120 guests with a set menu. Each table had its own butler. Everything fitted and was organised in detail. Chapeau!
Special mention must go to Gigi LaPajette, who gave us a taste of her creativity with this evening. Gigi came up with the idea, wrote the storyboard, planned 1,000 details and organised everything with the help of her Austrian drag queen colleagues and HOSI Salzburg. A cool event! And on 14 May, the fun continues with the Long Night of Diversity.
Da kommt einem Hera Lind in den Sinn, die in der rbb-Doku letzten Dezember von Salzburg sagte „Diese Stadt ist voller Leben“. Wohl wahr!
Text und Fotos: Peter Goebel
Salzburg: A Drag Hotspot
Compared to major cities such as Vienna, Munich or Berlin, Salzburg, with its population of just under 160,000, is a relatively small city. What is certainly not small in Salzburg, however, is the city’s drag scene, which has been establishing itself in the city of Mozart for more than five years. We explore why Salzburg can call itself a drag stronghold and what motivates the artists. [Read more]
Magic Cabaret
Calamity Jane brings the charm of 1920s burlesque to Salzburg with her line-up. Satire, dance, music, comedy and deliberately provocative sensuality all take centre stage at the Magic Cabaret in May at the Toihaus in Salzburg. It’s a new drag format that we’d like to take a closer look at. [Read more]
Gigi La Pajette
Gigi La Pajette is a well-known drag queen in Salzburg. With her bingo nights, brunches, Rosa Stadl, Christmas revue, silent disco, murder mystery dinners and other events, she has become an integral part of the Salzburg drag scene. We spoke to her about her career as a drag queen: from her first time in drag thirteen years ago to the present day. [Read more]
Pride BoatOn June 20, the summer party of the year for …
Der Salzburg Queer Guide 2026 für die LGBT Community ist jetzt erhältlich: 68 Seiten voller Infos und Events zum queeren Salzburg. Hier bestellen und per Post ins Haus kommen lassen. Hier geht‘s zum E-paper.
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