Vienna  - Vienna theatre artist Hubsi Kramar has been getting police protection after far-right politicians and tabloid media blasted his planned play about the incest case of Josef Fritzl.

Kramar, 59, defended himself in a press conference on Thursday, saying that his production about the man who imprisoned and raped his own daughter for 24 years would not be a comedy, but would satirize the "hypocritical" media coverage of the case.

"The play describes a certain process in Austria's mental state," Kramar said.

Entitled Guesthouse Fritzl, the play promises to show a "cellar soap opera" about "everything you ever wanted to know about the Fritzls," according to the press material sent out in advance of the premiere on February 23.

The far-right Freedom Party and the Alliance for the Future of Austria said Kramar should not be getting public funds for this cultural project. Tabloid media including the influential Kronen Zeitung also attacked the artist.

"In my view, you are a pathetic low-level comedian who attempts his utmost to escape his insignificant incompetence for acting," one of Kronen Zeitung's columnists wrote on January 18.

Kramar is known in Austria for his controversial theatre projects, but has also appeared as an actor in German TV series and films, such as the Holocaust drama Schindler's List.

Josef Fritzl is set to stand trial from March 16. He is accused of murder and other charges, as one of the seven children his daughter Elisabeth bore in her prison died from lack of medical treatment. (dpa)