A tiring start in Vienna’s Burgtheater

Ironically, at the start of the season in the Burgtheater on Sunday, there was less fresh energy than clear exhaustion. This was wanted on stage, as director Barbara Frey had packed Shakespeare’s “A Midsummer Night’s Dream” more in cotton than set it in the Athenian forest. In the end, the production, which had already been shown as a co-production at the German Ruhrtriennale, was celebrated extensively.

However, decoding the basic idea of ​​the performance, which radically slows down and lets the characters act as if they were remotely controlled, turned out to be a challenge.

Titania and Theseus at the same time

In places, one feels as if one is in a bad dream dreamed up by David Lynch, the pair of elves (Gunther Eckes, Sabine Haupt) are reminiscent of the horror twins in Kubrick’s “Shining”, and the queen of the elves, Titania, looked like Marge Simpson with her updo. Anything is possible in Frey’s fantasy realm and cross-gender casting is completely normal. That’s why Markus Scheumann succeeds in captivating acting as Titania in love, which he later contrasts as Theseus with a straight cast. Sylvie Rohrer as the elf king Oberon pulls the strings, Dorothee Hartinger is a rather grumpy Puck and Marie-Luise Stockinger Lysander and craftsman Schnock.

The typical trials and tribulations were ultimately neglected. On the other hand, the craftsmen were given a lot of space, with Oliver Nagele as the savvy theater professional Zettel the clearer. It had truth and comedy. All in all, it was neither dreamlike nor traumatic. (either)