Theater quick check

What you need to know: “The Visit of the Old Lady”

Theater quick check by Larissa Schütz(Bild: Krone KREATIV/Tschepp, stock.adobe.com)

Whether you're on the trolleybus on the way to the performance, having a cigarette before the premiere or queuing for the toilet, with this quick check you'll be perfectly prepared for the evening in just 2 minutes. The "Krone" has the most important information about "The Visit of the Old Lady" by Friedrich Dürrenmatt.

What is it about? At the Landestheater Salzburg from November 21, 2024, you can see that morality is usually only a question of price. Dürrenmatt's global success is perhaps the most expensive revenge campaign of an aggrieved teenage mother who returns home as an "old lady" with an immoral offer in her luggage.

Plot: Claire Zachanassian returns to Güllen, where as a teenager she was once impregnated by Alfred Ill, disowned and chased out of town with her illegitimate child. After her difficult start, the now "old lady" has married her way to immense wealth and offers her impoverished hometown a cruel deal: Justice (the dead Alfred) for a billion. After an initial refusal, the greed of the citizens gains the upper hand and the town sinks into debt as everyone lives as if they can count on an imminent increase in wealth. Even Alfred's family gets carried away by the desire to spend. Despite apologizing, he is unable to change Claire's mind, and he realizes that there is no one left to help him. He dares to try and escape, but the people of Güllen put a swift end to it. He finally hands himself over to the townspeople, who declare his death a heart attack. Claire pays and leaves.

Show-off knowledge for the interval: the play has been translated into more than 30 languages. In addition to a Broadway production, there is also a film starring Ingrid Bergman and Anthony Quinn, which, however, ends "happily".