Volksschauspiele Telfs

Standing ovations for a classic by Kleist

Harald Schrott and Tobias Moretti shine as scribe Licht and village magistrate Adam (from left).(Bild: Marcella Ruiz Cruz)

This year's main play at the Tiroler Volksschauspiele Telfs, Heinrich Kleist's timeless comedy "Der zerbrochne Krug" (The Broken Jug), was met with enthusiasm by the premiere audience on Thursday evening, and not just because of Tobias Moretti, Corinna Harfouch and Harald Schrott. 

Anna Bergmann, the celebrated German opera and theater director, shows with her open-air production of Heinrich Kleist's "Der zerbrochne Krug" at Wallnöfer Platz in Telfs that she also has a knack for bringing a well-known, 200-year-old play into the present day as a popular drama.

Shipping container becomes a courtroom
Social constraints, strange moral concepts and abuse of power have no expiration date, but are still part of everyday life today, as Tobias Moretti as village judge Adam, Corinna Harfouch as female court councillor Walter and Harald Schrott as ambitious clerk Licht, among others, rousingly demonstrate for an hour and 40 minutes on the stage, which is a shipping container repurposed as a courtroom.

Great performances from the young cast
Annalena Hochgruber, the young new acting discovery from Tyrol, and Lenz Moretti as Ruprecht, who will make his artistic way even without the famous surname, are great in the role of the honestly loving Eva.