This essay investigates why Jelinek's controversial play 'Burgtheater' (first published 1982) has been staged only once - and very belatedly - in her home country of Austria. It also asks whether the material itself is of interest to non-Austrian readers and audiences and whether an English-language translation or production is conceivable. I suggest that if Jelinek's material had been written in her later, more complex, 'postdramatic' style it might indeed have been staged more often.