2023-12-16 05:05:54
“Wolfish times are lurking out there,” warns Brünhild at the end, and she is undoubtedly right. The last three hours of Ferdinand Schmalz’s “Hilden Saga” in the Academy Theater have been regarding whether things might have turned out differently with humanity or at least with the Nibelung saga. But despite all attempts to rewrite history, the only conclusion is: It’s a man’s world. And that consists of oppression, murder and manslaughter.
When Julia Windischbauer as Brünhild speaks her final monologue over piles of corpses, you sincerely regret that there wasn’t more inside. In his piece commissioned by the Worms Festival, which premiered in 2020, the Upper Austrian playwright turned the heroic saga into a Hilden saga, a “queen drama” in which three Norns intervene in the events and try to create female solidarity between the two queens Brünhild and Kriemhild. It is difficult to determine why it ultimately fails in the Austrian premiere by Jan Bosse, which celebrated its acclaimed premiere on Friday. However, one thing can be said: you are never bored for a second.
Bosse relies on comics and comedy and attaches great importance to effects, even in the flashy design by Stéphane Laimé (stage) and Kathrin Plath (costumes): Iceland, where the almost invincible Brünhild rules like Hans Christian Andersen’s Snow Queen, lies under a thick blanket of foam Three Norns dressed in orange tube dresses (Zeynep Buyrac, Elisa Plüss and Nina Siewert) apparently created mainly plastic curtains in which people easily get tangled in their weaving with threads of fate.
The men who wander around here to fulfill their mission are delightfully ridiculed by the direction. As Siegfried, Nils Strunk is not a superhero, but a self-absorbed bard whose talent clearly doesn’t lie in playing the guitar, but who doesn’t make a big deal out of his powers, with which he is the only one who can stand up to Brünhild. Dietmar König, as the metrosexual Burgundy King Gunther, is a burgundy-clad whiner (“Don’t touch me!”) who is effortlessly hung on the wall hook by his wife on their wedding night. Tim Werths and Gunther Eckes, as his brothers Gernot and Giselher, can be used for lots of performances as a comedian duo. Only Rainer Galkes Hagen has no fun and is a dangerous puppet master with deadly consequences. The winner, however, is Oliver Nägele, who as Wotan has a hard time with his daughter Brünhild and, as a chambermaid, ensures that Gunther’s wedding night debacle is spread as quickly as possible.
Julia Windischbauer, who is celebrating her debut as a member of the Burgtheater ensemble this evening, and Katharina Lorenz are the two Hildes around whom this tragicomic world of men revolves. As Brünhilde, Windischbauer doesn’t have to flex any muscles, but keeps the men in check with sheer self-confidence – just as physicality is usually merely hinted at or stylized. Good thing, because following all it’s less regarding seduction than regarding rape, and one with the entire Worms court as an accomplice, as the kidnapped and humiliated queen makes clear in a major accusatory speech. Katharina Lorenz as Kriemhild is ready to assist her, but revealing the dragon slayer Siegfried’s only vulnerable point only triggers a slaughter that brings no benefit to the women.
The fact that Ferdinand Schmalz did not give his Norns, who intervened in fate, more chances of success is a little disappointing. The Bachmann Prize winner was still celebrated in the end. In any case, Schmalz doesn’t need to rewrite his own career. It’s going quite well. Not to say: almost like clockwork.
(By Wolfgang Huber-Lang/APA)
(SERVICE – “Hildensaga. a queen drama” by Ferdinand Schmalz. Director: Jan Bosse, stage: Stéphane Laimé, costumes: Kathrin Plath. With Julia Windischbauer, Katharina Lorenz, Zeynep Buyrac, Elisa Plüss, Nina Siewert, Oliver Nägele, Nils Strunk, Dietmar König, Rainer Galke, Tim Werths and Gunther Eckes. Akademietheater. Next dates: December 20th, 25th and 30th. www.burgtheater.at)
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