Reichenau Festival

A “Lumpazivagabundus” as if from prehistoric times

The three rags (from left to right): Robert Meyer (Knieriem), Florian Carove (Zwirn), Thomas Frank (Leim), behind them: Sebastian Wendelin (Lumpazivagabundus)(Bild: Festspiele Reichenau/Lalo Jodlbauer)

Over-the-top and superbly acted: Robert Meyer directs Johann Nestroy's "Lumpazivagabundus" at the Reichenau Festival - and also plays a charismatic Knierim himself.

There was a time when the "Burg", Volkstheater and the "Josefstadt" were all vying for the once decisive Nestroy. Today, hardly anyone plays him. Why? Allegedly, it can no longer be cast. Of course, a quota of Austrians, who could of course play anything, used to be obligatory for every ensemble. Today, diversity dictates far removed from the arts are followed or German provincial ensembles are implanted.

So in Reichenau, one is amazed at a "Lumpazivagabundus" as if from the past: a few too many turns of slapstick, but entirely focused on the wonderful language and the idiom-savvy ensemble.

Brigitte Kren (Signora Palpiti), Johannes Deckenbach (H.v. Windwachl), Elisabeth Schwarz (Laura), front: Florian Carove (Zwirn), Veronika Glatzner (Camilla)(Bild: Festspiele Reichenau/Lalo Jodlbauer)

Much succeeds thanks to the art of casting. The blandly disreputable carpenter Leim is entrusted to the elemental powerhouse Thomas Frank - it's better not to meet this bourgeois in the dark. Florian Carove's Zwirn is not a feschak, but a monstrous eccentric.

And Robert Meyer, the director, as Knieriem: what discreet high presence and textual accuracy! Brigitte Kren and Sebastian Wendelin demonstrate the high art of the second subject.

The Zwirn scene, as always, doesn't carry its length and suffers from the indispensable operatic parody that closes the act. But never again will anyone claim that Nestroy can't be played