Alma is a play by Israeli writer Joshua Sobol based on the life of Alma Mahler-Werfel. It opened 1996 in Vienna.

"Alma" is the story of Alma Mahler-Werfel, the famous femme fatale and muse to many geniuses. She was the wife of composer Gustav Mahler

Gustav Mahler

Gustav Mahler was a late-Romantic Austrian composer and one of the leading conductors of his generation. He was born in the village of Kalischt, Bohemia, in what was then Austria-Hungary, now Kaliště in the Czech Republic...

, also married to architect Walter Gropius

Walter Gropius

Walter Adolph Georg Gropius was a German architect and founder of the Bauhaus School who, along with Ludwig Mies van der Rohe and Le Corbusier, is widely regarded as one of the pioneering masters of modern architecture....

 and poet Franz Werfel

Franz Werfel

Franz Werfel was an Austrian-Bohemian novelist, playwright, and poet.- Biography :Born in Prague , Werfel was the first of three children of a wealthy manufacturer of gloves and leather goods. His mother, Albine Kussi, was the daughter of a mill owner...

 (“The Song of Bernadette

The Song of Bernadette

The Song of Bernadette can refer to:* The Song of Bernadette , a novel by Franz Werfel.* The Song of Bernadette , a screen adaptation of the book.* "Song of Bernadette", a song from Jennifer Warnes later covered by Bette Midler...

”). She had also fervent love affairs with the painters Oskar Kokoschka

Oskar Kokoschka

Oskar Kokoschka was an Austrian artist, poet and playwright best known for his intense expressionistic portraits and landscapes.-Biography:...

, Gustav Klimt

Gustav Klimt

Gustav Klimt was an Austrian Symbolist painter and one of the most prominent members of the Vienna Secession movement. His major works include paintings, murals, sketches, and other art objects...

, and several others, bringing together some of the most creative spirits of the 20th century.

The speciality of the play is that it does not take place on a theatre stage, but in an entire building, fully equipped with furniture and props, which resemble to the location of a film set. Various scenes of Alma's life are performed simultaneously on all floors and in all rooms of the building.
One has to choose the events, the path, and the person to follow after each event, thus constructing one’s personal version of a "theatrical journey". The scenes of Alma’s life were performed simultaneously on all floors and in all rooms of a former Jugendstil sanatorium by architect Josef Hoffmann

Josef Hoffmann

Josef Hoffmann was an Austrian architect and designer of consumer goods.- Biography :...

 located in Purkersdorf

Purkersdorf

Purkersdorf is a municipality in the district of Wien-Umgebung in Lower Austria, Austria. The Sandstein-Wienerwald natural park, a part of the Vienna Woods, is situated on its territory....

 near Vienna

Vienna

Vienna is the capital and largest city of the Republic of Austria and one of the nine states of Austria. Vienna is Austria's primary city, with a population of about 1.723 million , and is by far the largest city in Austria, as well as its cultural, economic, and political centre...

. The guests were invited to abandon the immobilized position of a spectator in a conventional drama, replace it with the mobile activity of a traveller, and watch a "theatrical journey". They had to choose the events, the path, and the person to follow after each event, thus constructing her or his personal version of the "Polydrama". When Gustav Mahler dies at half-time, his funeral can be followed interactively to his music, and the spectators are subsequently invited to a sumptuous buffet-dinner during the interval with Austrian specialities, sweets and a special “Alma”-wine, which is all included in the ticket prize.

The play has been directed by Austrian director Paulus Manker

Paulus Manker

Paulus Manker is an Austrian film director and actor, as well as an author and screenplay writer.Manker is considered one of the most maverick German-speaking actors, and polarizes public opinion like scarcely no other...

, and toured to Venice

Venice

Venice is a city in northern Italy which is renowned for the beauty of its setting, its architecture and its artworks. It is the capital of the Veneto region...

, Lisbon

Lisbon

Lisbon is the capital city and largest city of Portugal with a population of 545,245 within its administrative limits on a land area of . The urban area of Lisbon extends beyond the administrative city limits with a population of 3 million on an area of , making it the 9th most populous urban...

, Los Angeles

Los Ángeles

Los Ángeles is the capital of the province of Biobío, in the commune of the same name, in Region VIII , in the center-south of Chile. It is located between the Laja and Biobío rivers. The population is 123,445 inhabitants...

, Petronell, Berlin

Berlin

Berlin is the capital city of Germany and is one of the 16 states of Germany. With a population of 3.45 million people, Berlin is Germany's largest city. It is the second most populous city proper and the seventh most populous urban area in the European Union...

, Semmering

Semmering, Austria

Semmering is a town in the district of Neunkirchen in the Austrian state of Lower Austria. It is famous for its skiing, and has hosted the Alpine skiing World Cup several times. When the famous Semmering Railway was completed in 1854, it brought many tourists from Vienna to here. Today, tourists...

, Jerusalem, Prague

Prague

Prague is the capital and largest city of the Czech Republic. Situated in the north-west of the country on the Vltava river, the city is home to about 1.3 million people, while its metropolitan area is estimated to have a population of over 2.3 million...

and Vienna itself. The production was also made into a three parts film.