2023-12-07 08:16:30
Man is just bad, and weak, and crude. That leaves me cold. The world is like a zoo: the monkeys fight each other and the jackal eats his carrion. That’s just the way it is” – what an overly sophisticated observer of the multi-crisis world of our time might slip by, actually summarizes the core of Molière’s almost four-centuries-old view of humanity. This skeptical, but not hopeless, anthropology has perhaps nowhere been more aptly demonstrated than in his classic about the eponymous misanthrope Alceste, which Martin Kušej has now staged at Vienna’s Burgtheater.
However, the amount of shrugging conformity expressed by Alceste’s friend Philinte at the beginning of the play is the maximum provocation for a virtuous, principled rider like Alceste. And so you can immediately guess why Kušej was also able to become enthusiastic about this figure in his farewell season as castle director, as in recent years he has liked to see his house as the spearhead of artistic criticism of the conditions in the country. On stage, such desire for a clear position sometimes came at the expense of a feeling for the subtler and more contradictory dimensions of the humaine condition. And in the “misanthrope” production, Martin Zehetgruber’s stage design first of all boldly erects a wall of mirrors that recurs throughout the entire piece, so that there is no doubt in the hall that the audience is always looking themselves in the eye when watching Molière’s bigoted hypocrites .
Answers as pointed as stiletto heels
Itay Tiran plays the misanthropic Alceste with a beautiful mixture of laconicism and open contempt for all those who, unlike him, refuse to proclaim the depravity of the entire species at the slightest human mistake. This also applies to Philinte, who is intended as a voice of moderation, whose actually calm nonchalance in Christoph Luser’s portrayal usually comes across as a little too energetic.
As is well known, part of the comedy of the piece lies in the fact that the protagonist is also unable to meet his own standards of moral integrity and complete autonomy, as he is in love with the newly widowed Célimène, who is always surrounded by a whole swarm of admirers. Mavie Hörbiger plays her in her dazzling sequined suit (costumes: Heide Chancellor) with so much esprit and confidence that she knows how to easily parry the moral criticism of those around her of her libertine lifestyle with pointed answers that are as pointed as her stiletto heels.
This applies not least to her dealings with Alceste himself, who is only too happy to stop her from flirting and at the end of the play, when her exposed love roulette threatens to blow up in the widow’s face in front of the assembled offended circus of men, she flees to the country together prompts. Here, however, he has made the calculation without Célimène, who sees herself as unsuited to a life surrounded by herds of mutton and who is responsible for the consequences of the communication and emotional chaos she has caused.
#Molières #Human #Enemy #Burgtheater