In the storm of the elements and great emotions

Who else, apart from the Greiner Dilettantesgesellschaft, should be the first to fill the painstakingly restored Grein Citizens’ Theater after a two-year break with great acting? The ensemble that has played its way up to become a local audience favorite with national merits over the past two and a half decades.

When selecting plays for the reopening, the amateur theater group led by Christian Geirhofer – who succeeded his mother Christine in this role – reached into the top floor of classical theater literature: William Shakespeare’s “The Tempest” proved to be the best at the acclaimed premiere on Saturday sophisticated but worthy content to bring the venerable house to its very own purpose: to entertain, amaze and touch people.

Director Christian Hochgatterer had the difficult task of bringing to the stage a storyline that was by no means dead straight, including a gentle criticism of colonialism, in a comprehensible way: The former Duke of Milan Prospero (Hans Peter Baumfried), who was kicked out by his brother, “residents” with his daughter Miranda (Christine Puchner) on a lonely island. His subjects are the wind spirit Ariel and the cunning son of a witch Caliban (both excellently interpreted by Astrid Zehetner and Melanie Janz). Familiar with magic, Prospero manages to bring his brother and archenemy, the Queen of Naples, to the said island after a shipwreck in a storm. His plan: to demand reparation for the shame he has suffered, whereby the newly ignited love between his daughter and the queen’s son is doing him the best service. The secondary characters Trinculo and Stephano, played by the Waldhausen “Mimus-Loans” Franz Reiter and Alfons Puchner, ensure that there is no shortage of situational comedy.

In the whirlpool of love, revenge and obsession with power, a two and a half hour evening unfolds, which is supported by a remarkable acting performance. The fact that not all the freshly installed technical aids were spot-on at the premiere was a gift. “Der Sturm” will be played twice more on the Pentecost weekend. In the fall, there will be a resumption over a longer period of time.

Conclusion: Once again convincing acting level of the amateur society Grein in a content-demanding Shakespeare drama.