TRUE STORY NIGHTS
Top storytellers confess all
in English
Jacob Liss - ©
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Anna Esterbauer - ©
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Bryan Benner - © Sofija Palurovic
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©
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Termine
On October 22nd 2025, the hugely popular TRUE STORY NIGHTS from Vienna Storytelling Collective celebrates the 3rd anniversary of its first performance of monthly shows at Volkstheater’s Rote Bar. It has been sold out for every show since October 2022. These exciting storytelling evenings have been bringing you a different line up of performers each time, with surprising, moving, hilarious and sometimes shockingly true stories. Your host as ever is Turan Ali, producer of BBC drama/comedy, who welcomes you to a rollercoaster evening of gripping, high quality true stories – some from Vienna. Our ever-changing quartet of storytellers for each show includes novelists, comedians, radio, TV and film professionals, screenplay writers, performance poets, singer-songwriters and theatre-makers. It feels like being the priest at a confessional, hearing such personal revelations …. but you don’t need to keep all these a secret!
WHAT THE AUDIENCES HAVE SAID: “Exhilarating”, “A brilliant evening every time”, “Funny and very moving”, “Incredible stories!”
True stories guaranteed to astonish, amuse or amaze you with their honesty.
The line-up for our October 22nd 2025 TRUE STORY NIGHTS is Turan Ali, Romana Carén, Alan Burgon and Alicia Edelweiss.
Turan Ali has been producing, directing and writing BBC Radio dramas, comedies and documentaries for 20+ years. He’s the creator, host and producer of True Story Nights. He has Austrian/Turkish parents, has been an on-stage storyteller since 2012 and a stand-up since 2021. His recent tours have included Vienna, Scotland, Budapest and Istanbul. He won the Creative Edinburgh Leadership Award 2024.
Romana Carén is an award-winning writer, director and actress from Vienna, now a PhD student at De Montfort University, UK. She created acclaimed short films such as No Mother (2021), winner of multiple international awards, and Heartbeat (2013), screened at Cannes & Raindance. She’s also Director of Postgraduate Studies/Film-making at Raindance Film School, with her first book on self-directing due in 2026.
Alan Burgon is an award-winning British actor, director, writer, and a graduate of Scotland’s Royal Conservatoire. He has performed with Dundee Rep, National Theatre of Scotland, on German TV (Tatort Mainz, Das Netz) & international films (Thank You For Bombing, Me We). He co-founded Vienna's Open House Theatre, and is Bjørn in Austria's biggest ABBA tribute band The Magic Of ABBA.
Alicia Edelweiss is an Austro-British singer, songwriter, multi-instrumentalist (especially accordion), artist and yarnspinner, with dark folk tales and witty auto-biographical sketches. She won the Hubert von Goisern Cultural Award (2022) and released 2 albums, “When I'm Enlightened, Everything Will Be Better” (2019), “FURIE” (2025). She has performed in festivals across Europe with her chamber pop band of strings.
WHAT THE AUDIENCES HAVE SAID: “Exhilarating”, “A brilliant evening every time”, “Funny and very moving”, “Incredible stories!”
True stories guaranteed to astonish, amuse or amaze you with their honesty.
The line-up for our October 22nd 2025 TRUE STORY NIGHTS is Turan Ali, Romana Carén, Alan Burgon and Alicia Edelweiss.
Turan Ali has been producing, directing and writing BBC Radio dramas, comedies and documentaries for 20+ years. He’s the creator, host and producer of True Story Nights. He has Austrian/Turkish parents, has been an on-stage storyteller since 2012 and a stand-up since 2021. His recent tours have included Vienna, Scotland, Budapest and Istanbul. He won the Creative Edinburgh Leadership Award 2024.
Romana Carén is an award-winning writer, director and actress from Vienna, now a PhD student at De Montfort University, UK. She created acclaimed short films such as No Mother (2021), winner of multiple international awards, and Heartbeat (2013), screened at Cannes & Raindance. She’s also Director of Postgraduate Studies/Film-making at Raindance Film School, with her first book on self-directing due in 2026.
Alan Burgon is an award-winning British actor, director, writer, and a graduate of Scotland’s Royal Conservatoire. He has performed with Dundee Rep, National Theatre of Scotland, on German TV (Tatort Mainz, Das Netz) & international films (Thank You For Bombing, Me We). He co-founded Vienna's Open House Theatre, and is Bjørn in Austria's biggest ABBA tribute band The Magic Of ABBA.
Alicia Edelweiss is an Austro-British singer, songwriter, multi-instrumentalist (especially accordion), artist and yarnspinner, with dark folk tales and witty auto-biographical sketches. She won the Hubert von Goisern Cultural Award (2022) and released 2 albums, “When I'm Enlightened, Everything Will Be Better” (2019), “FURIE” (2025). She has performed in festivals across Europe with her chamber pop band of strings.
The hugely popular TRUE STORY NIGHTS from Vienna Storytelling Collective continues its 4th year of monthly sold-out shows at Volkstheater’s Rote Bar. These exciting storytelling evenings have been bringing you a different line up of performers each time, with surprising, moving, hilarious and sometimes shockingly true stories. Your host as ever is Turan Ali, producer of BBC drama/comedy, who welcomes you to a rollercoaster evening of gripping, high quality true stories – some from Vienna. Our ever-changing quartet of storytellers for each show includes novelists, comedians, radio, TV and film professionals, screenplay writers, performance poets, singer-songwriters and theatre-makers. It feels like being the priest at a confessional, hearing such personal revelations …. but you don’t need to keep all these a secret!
WHAT THE AUDIENCES HAVE SAID: “Exhilarating”, “A brilliant evening every time”, “Funny and very moving”, “Incredible stories!”
True stories guaranteed to astonish, amuse or amaze you with their honesty.
The line-up for our November 18th 2025 TRUE STORY NIGHTS is Turan Ali, Thomas Toppler, Bex McLaughlin and Malinda Perera.
Turan Ali has been producing, directing and writing BBC Radio dramas, comedies and documentaries for 25+ years. He’s the creator, host and producer of True Story Nights. He has Austrian/Turkish parents, has been an on-stage storyteller since 2012 and a stand-up since 2021. His recent tours included a 5 star run of his Queer Folks’ Tales show at Edinburgh Fringe, plus shows in Czech Republic, Istanbul, Cyprus and the UK. He won the Creative Edinburgh Leadership Award 2024.
Bex McLaughlin is a comedian and improviser, born in the British city of Bristol, and she now lives in Vienna. She specialises in observational storytelling, sharing tales of cultural misunderstandings, perpetual failings in love and work, and her dysfunctional family. It is all backed with dry, British sarcasm and a flair for various accents.
Thomas Toppler is a classical percussionist who’s performed with the Vienna Symphony Orchestra and many others. A graduate of the École Philippe Gaulier (Paris) he co-founded the Bouffon theatre company Ship of Fools, directing/performing many acclaimed productions and The Erlkings, a group that reimagines the songs of Schubert and Schumann, which performed internationally. His many plays include the Bouffon theatre piece, "Ein bescheidenerer Vorschlag" (2022) which won the Austrian Theatre Award „Nestroy" for Best Off Production.
Malinda Perera is a Sri Lankan comedian based in Vienna, who’s been performing stand-up full time since 2019. He has performed in 25 countries, headlined across Europe, and appeared on Irish TV. His debut solo special, Not A Drug Dealer, had a sold-out run across 50 cities in 24 countries and is now available to stream for free on YouTube. He is the resident host at N2O Comedy Club - Vienna.
WHAT THE AUDIENCES HAVE SAID: “Exhilarating”, “A brilliant evening every time”, “Funny and very moving”, “Incredible stories!”
True stories guaranteed to astonish, amuse or amaze you with their honesty.
The line-up for our November 18th 2025 TRUE STORY NIGHTS is Turan Ali, Thomas Toppler, Bex McLaughlin and Malinda Perera.
Turan Ali has been producing, directing and writing BBC Radio dramas, comedies and documentaries for 25+ years. He’s the creator, host and producer of True Story Nights. He has Austrian/Turkish parents, has been an on-stage storyteller since 2012 and a stand-up since 2021. His recent tours included a 5 star run of his Queer Folks’ Tales show at Edinburgh Fringe, plus shows in Czech Republic, Istanbul, Cyprus and the UK. He won the Creative Edinburgh Leadership Award 2024.
Bex McLaughlin is a comedian and improviser, born in the British city of Bristol, and she now lives in Vienna. She specialises in observational storytelling, sharing tales of cultural misunderstandings, perpetual failings in love and work, and her dysfunctional family. It is all backed with dry, British sarcasm and a flair for various accents.
Thomas Toppler is a classical percussionist who’s performed with the Vienna Symphony Orchestra and many others. A graduate of the École Philippe Gaulier (Paris) he co-founded the Bouffon theatre company Ship of Fools, directing/performing many acclaimed productions and The Erlkings, a group that reimagines the songs of Schubert and Schumann, which performed internationally. His many plays include the Bouffon theatre piece, "Ein bescheidenerer Vorschlag" (2022) which won the Austrian Theatre Award „Nestroy" for Best Off Production.
Malinda Perera is a Sri Lankan comedian based in Vienna, who’s been performing stand-up full time since 2019. He has performed in 25 countries, headlined across Europe, and appeared on Irish TV. His debut solo special, Not A Drug Dealer, had a sold-out run across 50 cities in 24 countries and is now available to stream for free on YouTube. He is the resident host at N2O Comedy Club - Vienna.
The hugely popular, monthly sold-out TRUE STORY NIGHTS shows from Vienna Storytelling Collective round off 2025 with another fabulous line-up at Volkstheater’s Rote Bar. These exciting storytelling evenings have been bringing you a different line up of performers each time, with surprising, moving, hilarious and sometimes shockingly true stories. Your host as ever is Turan Ali, producer of BBC drama/comedy, who welcomes you to a rollercoaster evening of gripping, high quality true stories – some from Vienna. Our ever-changing quartet of storytellers for each show includes novelists, comedians, radio, TV and film professionals, screenplay writers, performance poets, singer-songwriters and theatre-makers. It feels like being the priest at a confessional, hearing such personal revelations …. but you don’t need to keep all these a secret!
WHAT THE AUDIENCES HAVE SAID: “Exhilarating”, “A brilliant evening every time”, “Funny and very moving”, “Incredible stories!”
True stories guaranteed to astonish, amuse or amaze you with their honesty.
The line-up for our December 19th 2025 TRUE STORY NIGHTS is Turan Ali, Anna Esterbauer, Jacob Liss and Bryan Benner.
Turan Ali has been producing, directing and writing BBC Radio dramas, comedies and documentaries for 25+ years. He’s the creator/host/producer of True Story Nights. He has Austrian/Turkish parents, has been an on-stage storyteller since 2012 and a stand-up since 2021. Recent tours include a 5 star run of his Queer Folks’ Tales show at Edinburgh Fringe, plus his solo show Straight Talking in Czechia, Istanbul, Cyprus & the UK. He won Creative Edinburgh’s Leadership Award 2024.
Jacob Liss is an American stand-up comedian, actor, musician and non-binary entertainer. Jacob has performed on FM4 Happy Hour, the Big European Stand-Up Festival in Berlin & Frankfurt, plus many cities across Europe. They are half of Miami Advice, an upcoming monthly interactive comedy experience show. Recent theatre credits include: An Ideal Husband, The Duchess of Malfi, and A Christmas Carol for Open House Theatre.
Anna Esterbauer is a True Story Nights and Vienna Storytelling Collective regular, a Vienna-based writer, teacher and storyteller who has performed in poetry slams and many storytelling evenings. Her stories focus on the lives of women and the contradictions surrounding all of us, plus many stories of her typical, yet not so typical, Austrian family.
Bryan Benner is a Florida-born singer, guitarist, poet, songwriter based in Vienna who’s performed all over Europe for 20+ years, including Vienna’s Musikverein and Wiener Konzerthaus. He founded the internationally acclaimed art song ensemble “The Erlkings” and has produced and performed on 19 studio albums of his own projects, including 6 Erlkings albums, 3 of Neapolitan music and 7 of original songs.
WHAT THE AUDIENCES HAVE SAID: “Exhilarating”, “A brilliant evening every time”, “Funny and very moving”, “Incredible stories!”
True stories guaranteed to astonish, amuse or amaze you with their honesty.
The line-up for our December 19th 2025 TRUE STORY NIGHTS is Turan Ali, Anna Esterbauer, Jacob Liss and Bryan Benner.
Turan Ali has been producing, directing and writing BBC Radio dramas, comedies and documentaries for 25+ years. He’s the creator/host/producer of True Story Nights. He has Austrian/Turkish parents, has been an on-stage storyteller since 2012 and a stand-up since 2021. Recent tours include a 5 star run of his Queer Folks’ Tales show at Edinburgh Fringe, plus his solo show Straight Talking in Czechia, Istanbul, Cyprus & the UK. He won Creative Edinburgh’s Leadership Award 2024.
Jacob Liss is an American stand-up comedian, actor, musician and non-binary entertainer. Jacob has performed on FM4 Happy Hour, the Big European Stand-Up Festival in Berlin & Frankfurt, plus many cities across Europe. They are half of Miami Advice, an upcoming monthly interactive comedy experience show. Recent theatre credits include: An Ideal Husband, The Duchess of Malfi, and A Christmas Carol for Open House Theatre.
Anna Esterbauer is a True Story Nights and Vienna Storytelling Collective regular, a Vienna-based writer, teacher and storyteller who has performed in poetry slams and many storytelling evenings. Her stories focus on the lives of women and the contradictions surrounding all of us, plus many stories of her typical, yet not so typical, Austrian family.
Bryan Benner is a Florida-born singer, guitarist, poet, songwriter based in Vienna who’s performed all over Europe for 20+ years, including Vienna’s Musikverein and Wiener Konzerthaus. He founded the internationally acclaimed art song ensemble “The Erlkings” and has produced and performed on 19 studio albums of his own projects, including 6 Erlkings albums, 3 of Neapolitan music and 7 of original songs.