People are hungry for scene applause here: “Central Cemetery” at the castle.
Photo: Matthias Horn
One of the most famous places of worship in the world turns 150: Vienna’s Central Cemetery. In addition to dignitaries of all kinds, there is also a lot of common people there. The Burgtheater has Herbert Fritsch stage an evening entitled “Central Cemetery” and he takes the egalitarian nature of this resting place into account in its own way.
Curtain up, in the beginning there was futility: an older gentleman (Hans Dieter Knebel) in a pallbearer’s dress appears in a good mood and practices change. He wants to move the wall on the left side, but it moves, he can’t smile as much as he wants. A sausage stand protrudes profanely on the stage and announces: “eh scho wuascht”. Whether this is interpreted as defeatism or serenity in the face of death is up for debate.
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In the following, a team of gravediggers comes forward for all sorts of practical jokes: one reaches under the other’s suspenders and gets tangled up; In the end everyone is a ball. You grab shovels and bury the audience in invisible earth. There is no need for words, the actors make sounds, react to the environment instead of talking about it. The scenes are reminiscent of collective pantomime plays.
Then bicycles are brought in and we ride in circles together. The staff is hungry for applause from the scene. But then everything changes: the sausage stand gives way to a huge skeleton jumping jack that rises from the ceiling. One (Yahyah Micah James) finds himself alone, apparently scared to death, falls into a hole; Instead of disappearing into a deep grave, a trampoline transports him back to the stage. The supposed place of death becomes an elastic template for artistry and virtuosity that defies vanitas.
As in the carnival game Whac-a-Mole, James then has to push the heads of undead that want to be resurrected back under the stage. After a while, his Sisyphean work dissolves into a dance of death, with laughter ringing out from behind the players’ mourning ribbon. Choirs are forming. They undress and reveal camisoles and tights beneath the dark fabric of their robes; Confetti falls. With ribbons in bright tones, the players mummify their faces and form a knot again.
Before the final applause, the players hide and then scurry out from behind the curtain several times – as if they were afraid that it was coming to an end. But where there were no strict roles, they don’t have to end. This is how Ensemble works this evening. Only Burg director Martin Kušej has to leave after this season.
Next performances: May 1st, 26th and 31st
www.burgtheater.at
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