A theater evening full of despair: machine buffet in Salzburg!

A theater evening full of despair: machine buffet in Salzburg!

"Automatic buffet" - a very special piece by Anna Gmeyner about hopelessness and illusions - recently celebrated his premiere in the Salzburg Schauspielhaus. The staging under the direction of Sophia Aurich, who operates as the new head of the house of the house, leads the audience: the focus is on a world in which social marginal figures and their desperate dreams focus. Schrotkultkultur.at reports: The play, which was first performed in 1932, plays in the early 1930s-a time that was shaped by political upheavals and the advent of a darker spirit.

At the center of the plot is the 21-year-old Eva, played by Leonie Berner. After a failed attempted suicide, she is saved by Leopold Adam and finds refuge in the Adam family's household. But this new hope could be deceptive. The atmosphere is tense, characterized by distrust, especially on the part of the dominant mother, Mrs. Adam, embodied by Elisabeth Nelhiebel, and the other men who come from the "German Amateur Association". The characters are profound and multifaceted, each with their own, often destructive dreams.

A piece with historical roots

Anna Gmeyner, who was born as a Jewish writer in Vienna in the early 1900s, has created a socially critical satire with a “machine buffet”, which has lost nothing more than 90 years after her original publication. Gmeyner, who grew up in Liberal Jewish conditions and contacted significant personalities early, moved to Berlin in 1925, where she worked intensively as a dramatist and screenwriter. wikipedia.org illuminated that her career was interrupted by the escape from National Socialism and a subsequent exile. Gmeyner, who published under various pseudonyms, is best known for her novel "Manja" and other important works of exile literature.

The demanding staging in Salzburg's Salzburg playhouse brings the actors together in a unique combination of emotions and drama. With an ancient choir of underdogs and special video transmissions, the drama is additionally reinforced - even if this can affect text intelligibility. Nevertheless, the huge emotions and the shouting of the figures reflect the despair of an entire society that threatens to fall into the abyss.

Deep cuts into social needs

The staging not only addresses the hopes and illusions of the characters, but also combines them with the historical reality of the time. At the end of the play, two episodes from Heiner Müller's "Battle" are listed, which address the connection between hopelessness and the emerging Nazism, which should stimulate many spectators: thinking about their own social situation inside. So far, the audience resonance has been consistently positive.

"Automatic buffet" can still be seen in the Salzburg Schauspielhaus until October 19, 2023. The combination of historical weight and emotional depth makes this performance an absolute must for all theater lovers in the city.