SCHEITERHAUFEN

A narcissistic mother. A daughter who flees into a sham marriage, a son who flees into alcohol. A calculating son-in-law. A death that ultimately sets everything in motion and exposes the lies they have lived by. "Scheiterhaufen" is a family drama. Strindberg's theme is the unmasking of the illusory reality that the characters keep up in a kind of sleepwalking state.

August Strindberg was born in Stockholm in 1849 into a middle-class family. His first novel was published in 1879. In the years that followed he devoted himself largely to the theatre. His naturalistic style earned him comparisons with the Norwegian author Henrik Ibsen. His professional success stood in stark contrast to his private life, in which he chafed against convention and morality. All three of his marriages failed. In Paris in 1897 Strindberg fell into a deep artistic and personal crisis. He turned away from his old style and towards Symbolism. Strindberg died in Stockholm in 1912:

"Most people boast of their imagined happiness,
and as a rule one hides one's misery."

August Strindberg

PRESS

DOLOMITENSTADT(21 February 2016)

“The worst hell is the hell of family”

August Strindberg's Scheiterhaufen from 1907 is a dark family drama. At its centre are a narcissistic mother (Susanne Schartner), a son (Lucas Zolgar) who escapes into alcohol and a daughter (Amarilla Ferenczy) who escapes into a sham marriage, as well as a calculating son-in-law (Helmut A. Häusler). The maid (Monika Schmatzberger)

The reckoning with the mother and her moral execution begin when the son finds a revealing letter from his recently deceased father. The illusory reality that the characters keep up in a kind of sleepwalking state is increasingly exposed, and a Kafkaesque horror scenario unfolds. The play takes place in a single room, gloomy, joyless and sparsely furnished. The events are horrifyingly repellent.

Scheiterhaufenis an absolutely unmissable production by director Klaus Rohrmoser. The play is timelessly relevant, and the outstanding performances of the entire cast hold the audience completely spellbound.(Barbara Theurl)

MEIN BEZIRK(21 February 2016)

A DENSE PRODUCTION BY THEATER ATLANTIS AT THE TPZ HALL

In August Strindberg's “Scheiterhaufen”, a laboriously maintained bourgeois façade intertwines with the fragile illusory world of personal relationships and dependencies. In just under an hour, director Klaus Rohrmoserdrives the ensemble's three women and two men through six main scenes with rigorous density towards the dramatic climax, in which the narcissistic mother burns to death in the house and there seems to be no way out for the others either.
Susanne Schartneris thoroughly convincing as the self-absorbed mother, Amarilla Ferenczy gives face and voice to every shade of denial, Lucas Zolgar moves credibly in the role of the desperate alcoholic son, Monika Schmatzberger is the likeable, serene maid, and Helmuth A. Häusler portrays the calculating son-in-law, who suddenly turns brutal, with power and assurance.
“There are many ways to murder .. and yours has the advantage of not falling under criminal law!” – undoubtedly a key line that lays bare the whole drama of a life built on lies.
Certainly not comfortable entertainment, but dense theatre of high artistic ambition, which the current Atlantis” ensemble lives up to throughout.Costumes and props are by Andrea Spiegel & Theo Moschen, lighting & sound by Dietmar Scherz. (Peter Teyml)

SCHEITERHAUFEN – A FAMILY DRAMA?

Yes, indeed, but one to be questioned anew

by Ekkehard Schönwiese

Log upon log has been stacked up over the many years. It would have provided warmth for many winters. It was to be saved. That is what the wife wants. She, the narcissistic, self-infatuated mother, was unable to give warmth to her children, and probably not to her husband either. We do not learn the reasons for her personality disorder; her own parents probably treated her coldly too. In any case, she has no warmth to pass on. Is she a witch, then, who deserves to be burnt at the stake? And would that solve the problem of the coldness? Now her husband has died, unable to bear life as it was. What kind of life? Her fault? Her problem? He railed against the cold but had no fire within him. So he departed, leaving the solution to the marital problems to the next generation. Before the wife became a widow, she moved out. A man fished her out of the icy pond and keeps them all, the family left behind, dangling. He marries the daughter but sleeps with the mother. The colder the atmosphere becomes, the more dangerous the house becomes. The pyre is stacked higher. Then son and daughter take each other by the hand, take heart and quietly swear: revenge. The mother burns.

The play is actually called “Pelikan” (The Pelican), referring to the belief that the bird feeds its young with its own blood, thus sacrificing itself – a hint at one possible interpretation: the mother destroys the family out of fear of the self-sacrifice (imposed on her by society). The title “Scheiterhaufen” (The Pyre) is fitting in this respect: it shows the failure – the “Scheitern” – of a family. And when the pile is set alight at the end, the witch burns.

But that is not the end of the drama. The questions pile up like the logs, and they burn in search of what lies between the lines.

The performance at the Theaterpädagogisches Zentrum Hall is the first production of the newly founded association “Atlantis”, which has separated from the “Projekttheater Hall” as its professional branch. Between 2010 and 2015, six professional theatre productions had already been created. The company's aim is to present exciting, original plays that get under the skin and provoke thought. These may be classical or contemporary, as long as they never lose sight of the goal of portraying honestly and profoundly human destinies and the eternal conflicts, longings and aims of people, whatever era they live in.

Theaterverband Tirol - Der Scheiterhaufen