2023-08-02 15:01:00
In Upper Austria there is a Lehar Theater in Bad Ischl, a municipal theater in Bad Hall, the “Greif” in Wels or in Grein the oldest bourgeois theater in Austria. However, the district town of Freistadt has “only” one exhibition hall, which, with a great deal of ingenuity, can be adapted for art and culture beyond its actual purpose. Due to the innovative room partition system, Susanna Bihari and Ulf Dückelmann and their team were once more able to create a temporary theater for this year’s “theaterzeit”.
The last curtain fell a week ago for “The Prodigal Son”, which actually wasn’t one, because the curtain was an absolute darkness in the stage area, favored by black textile room dividers. With that, a great directorial effort began at each of the six sold-out performances.
Author and director Ulf Dückelmann, inspired by the literary material of the biblical parable and Schiller’s “Die Räuber”, wrote a new play regarding family, rebellion, love, conflicts with authorities and rejection of the existing order with unvarnished references to the present. Implementing all of this on meaningful wood chips above the hard hall floor was a great challenge, but one that was extremely successful. So what contributed to an extraordinary theatrical experience?
First and foremost, of course, the piece that premiered in Freistadt and an ensemble with twelve ? also internationally experienced ? Actors, including four amateurs from the region. (Both acknowledged in the OÖN review by Peter Grubmüller). And a direction that, in particular, made extremely exciting and touching moments possible.
The width of the hall gave Ulf Dückelmann a lot of leeway in the truest sense of the word, the events moved apart, so that there was variety in the scenic sequence. In addition, darkness and light design (Hubert Wolschlager) together with wafts of fog created a mystical atmosphere.
Finally there was silence, mainly due to linguistic caesuras, which kept us waiting tensely for the next word and made it easier to deepen our thinking regarding the plot. In addition, there was a finely tuned sound design (Ignaz Zottl, Benjamin Vigl), which allowed even the slightest emotions of the actors to reach the auditorium. The incidence of videos also provided variety.
Ulf Dückelmann and his team managed to let a total of approx. 1300 visitors enter a sober exhibition hall and following three hours of experiencing pure drama they were able to leave a renowned theater deeply impressed and touched. There were standing ovations at all six performances.
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