Burgtheater Vienna

Young professional Schiller in a palaver inferno

Eight young amateur actors play all the roles: "Kabale und Liebe" based on Schiller in the Burgtheater vestibule.

(Bild: Burgtheater / Tommy Hetzel)

"Kabale und Liebe", intrusively staged, but with expressive young amateurs in the castle vestibule.

Children, even teenagers, create a glow on stage that is the envy of many actors. How they try to extinguish this glow by any means necessary - and how the deed fails in the end - can now be studied in the vestibule of the Burgtheater. "Kabale und Liebe" has been announced, "based on Schiller". Apart from a few historical explanations, there is nothing to add to the plot: A young couple destined for each other end up hanging dead in the class barriers.

At the castle, director Ebru Tartici Borchers spells out the post-dramatic catalog to the point of unintentional parody. Each of the eight young amateurs plays all the roles, so that the intended audience of the 14+ age group can no longer follow the clear, disturbing story.

Professional youthful palaver substitutes for the text work, and ingratiation is taken to extremes with dance gymnastics and pop singing. And yet everyone here is a personality, and a disabled young woman can even make undisguised pain believable. Ebru Tartici Borchers is therefore not destiny. That must suffice as added value on this evening.