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Ferry Öllinger: A rollercoaster of emotions in letters

She is an emotional artist, he is a staid desk clerk: Gabriele Deutsch and Ferry Öllinger in "Love Letters"(Bild: Andreas Kurz)

A reunion with post commander Kroisleitner from SOKO Kitzbühel is on the cards, albeit in a different role: audience favorite Ferry Öllinger and the well-known actress Gabriele Deutsch will be fighting a moving love duel in words in the duo play "Love Letters" at Theater Phönix in Linz from 23 January.

"I'm doing very well, I've been back on the slopes for a year," says Ferry Öllinger. The Upper Austrian actor became famous beyond Austria's borders thanks to his role as post commander Kroisleitner in SOKO Kitzbühel.

However, an illness threw him off course, he had to take a break for over a year and lost a lot of weight. Last year, Öllinger returned to the stage for the first time, playing in an operetta at Graz Opera, which we reported on. And now he is "acting" again.

A great love in letters
An extraordinary play has been scheduled at Theater Phönix in Linz: Öllinger is teaming up with Gabriele Deutsch for "Love Letters" by A. R. Gurney. The staged reading is directed by Christine Wipplinger. "We are a dream team," says Öllinger.

In "Love Letters", the lifelong relationship between Melissa Gardner and Andrew Makepeace Ladd III is told through their letters. "A great love that actually only comes together in letters, because the two never meet for the rest of their lives," says Öllinger. She is an artist-chario, he is a staid civil servant: "It couldn't be more different."

Characters - taken from life
And Gabriele Deutsch says: "The letters reveal so much about the two personalities, their humor, their pain, their strength and loneliness." In Wipplinger's production, there is "neither a large stage set nor grand gestures that distract. It's all about the connection between the characters and the audience."

The premiere is on Thursday, January 23, at Theater Phönix in Linz. You can look forward to top-class acting and - with Deutsch and Öllinger - to "two Linz theater veterans. We're playing together for the first time", says Öllinger.