5. August 2022
Jack Unterweger, convicted of murdering a prostitute, hyped as a hip writer during 15 years in prison, suspected of further murders following his release. Hangs himself in his cell following an uncontested sentence.
None other than actor John Malkovich (“Being John Malkovich”) edited the texts of the “Hafenpoeten” into “Infernal Comedy” with director Michael Sturminger. Confessions of a Serial Killer”. As a dramaturgical construction, Unterweger’s publisher invites you to a post-mortem reading of Unterweger’s autobiography. The music theater project for orchestra, two soprano voices and a world-class actor filled the Great Hall of Linz’s Brucknerhaus on Thursday.
Evening of the Sopranos
It’s an evening of sopranos. The lyrical soprano of Susanne Langbein and the full, round voice of Chen Reiss fascinate with lightness, passion and radiance. In second place are the verbal abysses in song lyrics and acting. Men devised the highly dramatic arias, immortals like Mozart, Beethoven, Haydn or Vivaldi. They sing of women who long for death because of the pain of love while they beg for the love of their loved one. Against the background of the Unterweger story, unbearable texts with meter-high surtitles. Serene comment: “They allowed me to kill them”.
Beautiful song & abysses
Malkovich enters the stage, white suit, dark glasses, introduces himself with the usual banalities. “Linz is beautiful, I would like to present my new book.” Unnoticed, he has long been Jack Unterweger. A casually smug author and serial killer, Malkovich argues regarding the truth, which he’s “extremely sparing of.”
“I want to unite with you until the pain kills me” (Mozart), intones the beautiful singer. Forgotten is the arrogant beast. But Malkovich intervenes once more, his wives also lusted following him, the murderer, financed his life and every luxury. With the last words, the Wroclaw Baroque Orchestra with conductor Martin Haselböck glides into another world that one would like to know independently of the story.
But the speaker looks at the singer and slowly approaches her. Malkovich is considered to be one of the most distinguished performers of complex, problematic, abysmal, often highly intelligent but equally condescending characters. Only a few moments do such areas of tension arise, the boundlessly self-absorbed monster appears, which logically, cynically, and at the same time feels bored in the right, in a legal system that he smugly questions, like all truth in general, he stands above things. Hybrid high-altitude flight with a return to the stage floor: “I just want to sell my book”.
The suicide scenario opens the view of Unterweger as an ultimately ridiculous figure. “Ever since I died, I’ve been wondering…” Final mind games regarding the truth, or search for a simple explanation: “I want to be someone, I’d rather be a murderer than nobody.”
Worlds collide for 90 minutes, that of classic beautiful singing and that of a murderous psychopath. They touch each other very little. Classical music is in the foreground, you can indulge in the songs and the perfection of the sopranos. Unterweger is annoying with his arrogant penetrance. A monstrosity! That’s exactly what he wanted.
