Gmunden Festival Weeks

“Liebelei”: The game with the sweet girls

Alexander Julian Meile (left) as Fritz; Jakob K. Hofbauer as Theodor

(Bild: Rudi Gigler)

Lots of applause, but no exuberance: the young director Anna Stiepani ventured into a new production of Arthur Schnitzler's "Liebelei". The premiere took place at the Stadttheater Gmunden as part of the Salzkammergut Festwochen. It solidly puts the tragedy on a more timeless footing, but loses some of its psychological depth.

"I'm fed up with your love tragedies. You bore me with them," says Theodor to Fritz, who is having an affair with a married woman alongside his love affair. This is the center of Schnitzler's "Liebelei", from which a relationship carousel could develop, showing each participant as the perpetrator and pawn of another.

But that doesn't happen. As Stiepani said in the "Krone" talk, she wants to give priority to the female gaze. The result, however, is a tragedy without sharp edges.

Only tender tips of feelings
Alexander Julian Meile, who plays an almost melancholy Fritz, remains calm when he is asked to duel. Overall, he comes across as mysterious, but at the same time bored and disgusted with life itself. Yes, that can be enough. But it is also boring for the audience. His sidekick Theodor, who could take on mirror functions, is played by Jakob Kajetan Hofbauer, who is too attached to the text.

Markus Ransmayr as the cuckolded husband immediately opens up abysses, one senses anger, sadism - exciting, but unfortunately a minimal performance.

Alexander Julian Meile, Lorena Emmi Mayer

(Bild: Rudolf Gigler)

Women can also be different
Lorena Emmi Mayer is convincing as the gullible Christine, but hardly has the opportunity to play it out in a more multi-faceted way. She wants to give the character a shadow, because: if someone hopes for eternal love from a man, what kind of enormous claim to power is that? But the director doesn't go for it. Cecilia Pérez achieves good contours, but even she could do with more faces as the droll best friend.

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A celebrity guest on stage
Samuel Finzi is the celebrity guest in the play, which will also be performed at the Linz Landestheater from the fall. As Weiring, he grants his daughter love, but it is unclear whether he wants to save her or send her to her doom. At least he interprets Elfriede Jelinek's "The Kiss" on the piano. Gunda Schanderer also has a strong presence on stage as the inquisitive stocking-maker's wife.

Between the first and second acts, Stiepani has also placed the song "Victim of Love" as a modern element. 

The picture and the costumes (Thurid Peine) add the summer freshness, a transparent stage curtain quotes Klimt's Attersee impressions, a golden mirror shines above it - like a sun. 

Solid, but deeper facets wouldn't have hurt either. From October 25, "Liebelei" will be performed at the Landestheater Linz.