Summer Theater in Reichenau: Schnitzler's "Reigen" with Music and Without Passion

"Reigen" consists exclusively of heterosexual constellations in which "das Stubenmädchen und das süße Mädel haben gefügig zu sein." This premise visibly shapes the production. Lukas Watzl is in one scene quite literally pushed onto the playing area and into the arms of a prostitute. The question "Sag, hast du mich lieb?" runs through the play and is posed by the sweet girl, the young gentleman, the young wife, and the chambermaid.

Stage and Production

Set designer Dimitrij Muraschov has created a "Seelenlandschaft" in unwelcoming brown for the venue Neuer Spielraum, a "soul landscape" that radiates little warmth. The production forgoes double and multiple casting; each actor plays only two scenes. The performance is "auf zweieinhalb Stunden in die Länge gezogenen Stafettenlauf, brutal auseinandergerissen durch eine Pause."

The verdict is clear in the balance: "Himmlisch ist an diesem „Reigen" allerdings wenig. Zu irdisch die Triebe, zu menschlich die Lüste - nur die Leidenschaft, die bleibt zwischen all dem Gestöhn grandios auf der Strecke. Oder: unter der Decke." Although the physical acts are shown, the passion that carries Schnitzler's original largely remains invisible.

Criticism and Reception

Stefan Jürgens, 63 years old, plays the Count and is greeted in the finale by Therese Affolter with a playful "Servus, Bubi!" The conclusion shows the final figure dancing alone: "Und tanzt am Ende doch allein, am Abgrund - oder war's die Himmelspforte?" Precisely where the evening is set remains unclear. "Ich hab keine Ahnung, wo ich lebe," says Stefanie Dvorak as an actress in one scene, and the audience can well understand that: "Auch als Zuseher lässt sich das Geschehen nur sehr ungefähr verorten, sei es sprachlich oder topografisch."

The review bears the title "Ein „Reigen" mit viel Lust - und wenig Leidenschaft." This names the fundamental problem of the production: the action is staged scenically, the characters act mechanically, but the inner movement that distinguishes Schnitzler's dialogues fails to materialize. Even the poetic opening and closing image with the jointly sung setting of "An die Geliebte" cannot compensate for this finding.

In the end, a sober assessment remains. With its second premiere, the Reichenau Festival delivers an evening that is solid in craft but cool in effect. The musical setting of Schnitzler's old poem provides a frame that promises more than the production is able to fulfill in the barely two and a half hours in between.