STIGMA Eine Passion

Moid, a maidservant on a farm, stands between three men: the head farmhand Bast, the farmer's son Ruepp and the Son of God, Jesus Christ. She steadfastly resists the pushy advances of the first two until one day she receives the stigmata of Christ and, as the Bride of the Lord, works miracles on the sick and preaches against social injustice.
One night Ruepp appears wearing a devil's mask, knocks Moid unconscious and rapes her. The maid is now caught in the machinery of science, Church and law. Moid, unaware of any guilt, believes she has had a nightmare, and is accused of fraud by a professor of medicine, sent to examine the miracle scientifically, when he discovers she is pregnant. The Monsignore, also present, performs an exorcism. The expelled demons, however, pass into him, expose his misdeeds, reveal the name of the rapist and provoke murder and suicide.
The maid's passion ends when, after the birth of her child, the authorities seek to arrest her as an agitator against state and Church. She throws herself in front of the fired rifle of a gendarme aiming at the young farmhand as he tries to help her escape.

In 1982 the town of Hall – then in the second season of the "Tiroler Voksschauspiele" – rejected the play as a "collection of obscenities and mockery of religion" and was no longer willing to host the festival if "Stigma" remained on the programme.
In this situation Telfs offered itself as a venue. To this day the festival takes place in Telfs. An advance publication of "Stigma" sparked nationwide outrage; protest letters poured in, criminal complaints were filed against those responsible, and there were even bomb threats against the mayor of Telfs. Over 70 newspapers from across the German-speaking world sent critics. Despite the heated atmosphere, the expected scandal never materialised at the police-protected premiere.

MARKUS PLATTNER

"When I first got my hands on this play ten years ago, I came into contact with something that has not let go of me to this day. Behind everything we are told – a maid who, stigmatised, experiences the suffering of Christ in her own body and must endure a world that is closed in on itself and turns all those who stand outside it into the stigmatised – there lies a magic.
When Felix Mitterer wrote this play, he placed something between the lines that is hard to explain. You can sense it, and for good theatre it is as essential as our daily bread: compassion. From the very beginning it takes hold, grips you, carries you along and only lets go at the end, or even beyond.
With this foundation, an ensemble made up of long-standing friends, a production team that has grown with this task and, not least, a self-critical eye turned on ourselves, I wish us an evening that is intense, demanding, heartfelt and gripping.
I want to thank everyone who has made this play possible with me."

FELIX MITTERER
"Stigma", the second time round

"In 1999 I met Markus Plattner for the first time in a meadow on the edge of Schwaz, in pouring rain. It was "Stigma", and I came without great expectations. But that evening I witnessed the emergence of a great talent. I felt transported into a widescreen film, a grand epic in Technicolor. What Markus Plattner brought to the open-air stage with his amateur actors was passionate, violent, suggestive and highly poetic. Here was someone directing entirely from the gut, with visual worlds all his own, never seen before. Admittedly, some scenes got out of hand and the performance was far too long, yet it has stayed in my memory (and surely in that of every audience member) to this day.
Since then Markus Plattner has – hard to believe – directed some 50 plays, from Shakespeare to Slawomir Mrozek, from Nestroy to Yasmina Reza, from Molière to Kroetz, from Anton Cechov to Dario Fo. And of course Karl Schönherr, Franz Kranewitter and eight of my plays. An incredible workload, through which this theatre fanatic has, over the years, acquired great professional skill on top of his natural gift – above all timing and precision.
And now, 11 years later – "Stigma", the second time round, again in Schwaz, and at a most unusual location. I expect a highly concentrated, dense and thrilling production. I haven't been this excited in a long time."

PRESS
KRONENZEITUNG (8 August 2010)

A HELL RIDE OF EMOTIONS
The arena of the Schwaz Silberwald is an idyllic place. Not at all idyllic, however, was what was shown there on Friday evening: "Stigma" by Felix Mitterer, directed by Markus PLATTNER. An evening that got under your skin. Hard-hitting, head-on theatre full of passion. A unique emotional hell ride!
....Markus PLATTNER tells the hopeless story of Moid, who, in the face of all the bleakness, has bid farewell to earthly life and weds Jesus, unsparingly and yet with great subtlety. His brutality and radicalism are full of poetry. He grants the audience no breathing space and gets straight to the point. His "Stigma" gets under your skin. He turns theatre into an experience. An experience full of emotion. "Stigma" becomes a plea for society's outsiders.
This is theatre that hits home. Right in the hearts of the audience. Breathtaking and unique!
Unique, too, is Anja PÖLZL as Moid. Her authenticity is moving. You feel with her. You suffer with her. She masters the exorcism scene with the utmost credibility. She makes the audience feel her screams, her pain. Frightening and shocking. It takes your breath away.
With Manfred BRÖTZ, Michel HEIL, René PERMOSER, Johannes F. HEISS, Rolf PARTON, Herwig WARASIN, Traudi LAMPRECHTR, Margit PEER, Günther ETTEL and Martin SAURWEIN, all the other roles are perfectly cast as well. Christian GREIDERER reduces the set to two crosses, sharpening the focus on the action. Ralf WAPLER conjures up unique lighting moods and Mike MOLL creates an additional dimension with music. Silvia FRITZ shows great sensitivity with the costumes.
Here a highly ambitious team has shown heavily subsidised stages the red card: this is theatre made with heart and soul and a great deal of passion. As an audience member you feel it. Every minute. And you experience that only very rarely. Almost never! In Schwaz it was experienced. It was felt.

KRONENZEITUNG (6 August 2010)

A PSYCHOLOGICAL THRILLER IN THE SILBERWALD
He is Tyrol's most exciting theatre-maker: Markus Plattner. ....:"Only gradually did I realise what I had let myself in for. I've never done anything like it. It's the most difficult thing I have ever played on a stage", admits Anja PÖLZL, who plays Moid, openly. For Markus PLATTNER she is the ideal casting..... Regional councillor Beate PALFRADER values his work.... "because he makes theatre with passion. Markus PLATTNER is young enough to be my son. If he were, I would be very, very proud of him", Tyrol's top culture official admits frankly.
And indeed: Markus PLATTNER is Tyrol's greatest theatre talent. In the most varied productions he has already proven that for him theatre is far more than just an event. For him theatre is an experience. An experience for the actors, but also for the audience. He is not concerned with pleasing, and certainly not with entertainment. He is concerned with confrontation, with being moved. And he achieves this by unconventional means........

TIROLER TAGHESZEITUNG (9 August 2010)

THE POWER OF THE GUILTY
With a furious production of "Stigma", the Schwaz Silberwald scores as a venue.
..... The premiere of "Stigma" on Friday evening was greeted with many cries of bravo. ..... .Markus PLATTNER and his superbly performing actors (!) go out on a limb ... Everything is already hinted at in the very first scene between the crosses (strong: Christian GREIDERER's set). The maid, Moid (extremely compelling: Anja PÖLZL), in a white dress, is not allowed to say grace. The self-righteous farmer (Johannes F. HEISS) is the ruler. ... The dutiful servants and outsiders are portrayed in many facets by Michael HEIL, Margit PEER, Günther ETTEL, Rolf PARTON, Herwig WARASIN, Traudi LAMPRECHT and the director himself. Moid refuses to give in to the advances of the head farmhand (Manfred BRÖTZ) and the farmer's son (René PERMOSER). She takes refuge in religion, receives the stigmata of Christ, heals the poor and protests against social injustice (these scenes provoke). ....... The play gains from the choice of historical costumes (Silvia FRITZ). Distance is needed, too.
This is exactly how the play can be staged today: tightened into episodes, passionate, a little crazy ... supported by every trick of music and lighting (Mike MOLL, Ralf WAPLER). Compliments to the team.