Castle premiere

Hypocrite “Tartuffe” in the cabinet of destroyed souls

"Tartuffe" at the castle with Ines Marie Westernströer and Michael Maertens(Bild: Burgtheater/Tommy Hetzel)

At last, a successful Molière at Vienna's Burgtheater. A great ensemble surpasses itself under Barbara Frey's masterful hand.

The way the dramaturgy of the repertoire has gone about it is miraculous: instead of Kleist, Schiller and Nestroy, the Burg is showing its third Molière in 14 months. It would have been a pleasure to see Martin Kusej's insulted "Misanthrope" and Stefan Bachmann's "The Imaginary Invalid" imported from Cologne replaced by a work by the aforementioned masters. The representational "Tartuffe", however, would be hard to pass up.

Director Barbara Frey understands the tonality of great literature and the dark subtexts beneath the seemingly cheerful. This "Tartuffe" thus becomes a dark, absurd chamber play with discreet piano accompaniment. In front of veils of rain, an abnormal procession of bent souls takes the path of doom. It is immediately clear who has bent. The bigoted over-grandmother has furnished the family hell (picture: Martin Zehetgruber), and the expected happens: the philistine Orgon falls for an impostor who feigns respect, sincerity and human warmth. There is a great deal of hidden homoeroticism between Bibiana Beglau and her victim Michael Maertens, which justifies the use of a woman in the title role without any silly dictates of diversity.

With great musicality in Simon Werle's fine Alexandrian translation, an ensemble of virtuosos thrills the audience, who go to the limits of self-disguise in a stunning way and yet all have a fate to tell. Maria Happel, Sarah Viktoria Frick at the Himalayan height of the art of transformation and Barbara Petritsch stand out among the many eye-catchers.