Music Theatre

Das Gemeindekind

Nach dem gleichnamigen Roman von Marie von Ebner-Eschenbach

Resch / Habermehl

LIBRETTO

Anne Habermehl

MUSIC

Gerald Resch

DIRECTOR

Rudolf Frey

Actors

Franziska Hackl
Barbara Horvath
Katja Jung
Florian von Manteuffel
Thiemo Strutzenberger

PHACE

Mathilde Hoursiangou, piano
Reinhold Brunner, clarinet
Stefan Mancic, accordion
Bernhard Schöberl, electric guitar
Alexandra Dienz, double bass

The aristocrat Marie von Ebner-Eschenbach, once lauded as the most important writer of Austria, published her magnum opus, Das Gemeindekind in 1887. At a time when social democracy programs were made available to the industrial proletariat, the portrayal of the rural underprivileged as the underbelly of society was already a central interest to the writer. Even if poverty in Das Gemeindekind is portrayed as ugly and the humanity of the impoverished appears low, the novel does not subscribe to the ideas of naturalism. One’s status is determined not only by social circumstances, as each individual is more than the sum of his or her economic circumstances. Anne Habermehl’s Das Gemeindekind is not simply an adaptation of Ebner-Eschenbach’s novel for the stage, but rather its own new work in the form of the libretto. As in Lars von Trier’s film Dogville, here a typical scene is portrayed: with the loss of his family, the title character Pavel becomes an outcast, leading to multiple brushes with the law. Habermehl examines the question of what becomes of a community child when the old community model does not exist (anymore). But how can we depict such a subject, if the practice of educational storytelling has become obsolete? In his first work of musical theater, Gerald Resch, a leading figure of Austrian contemporary music, has set Habermehl’s libretto in a Singspiel composed especially for the Schauspielhaus Ensemble.

Event Dates

 

By using this website you agree to accept our Privacy Policy and Terms & Conditions