Old Masters (Alte Meister)
based on the novel by Thomas Bernhard
Adaption by Thom Luz and David Heiligers
Although he hates both – walking and visiting museums – the music critic Reger has been walking for over thirty years in the Kunsthistorisches Museum, where he spends his mornings in the Bordone Hall. There he contemplates the so-called masterpieces, mainly Tintoretto's White-bearded Man, in order to discover with great pleasure and meticulousness in them the unfinished, the fragmentary and the flawed. Always at his side: the usher Irrsigler, who serves him as a contact and mouthpiece. In fact, over the decades, Reger has turned the museum bench into a thought and reading room. Surrounded by the Old Masters, in the midst of the ideal room temperature and perfect lighting conditions, he flicks through the books of the Great Spirits, seeks the truth and finds its gap. Basically, however, this crazy habit ensures his survival – especially after the death of his wife, who makes him feel his own imperfection painfully and clearly.
Thom Luz staged Thomas Bernhards 1985 novel appeared as a bright, desperate homage to the special talents of lonely people and sets out in search of the declaration of love behind the hate tirade.
Awarded as the "Best Performance" at the International Festival of Plays Pleasant and Unpleasant in Łódź 2019.
Although he hates both – walking and visiting museums – the music critic Reger has been walking for over thirty years in the Kunsthistorisches Museum, where he spends his mornings in the Bordone Hall. There he contemplates the so-called masterpieces, mainly Tintoretto's White-bearded Man, in order to discover with great pleasure and meticulousness in them the unfinished, the fragmentary and the flawed. Always at his side: the usher Irrsigler, who serves him as a contact and mouthpiece. In fact, over the decades, Reger has turned the museum bench into a thought and reading room. Surrounded by the Old Masters, in the midst of the ideal room temperature and perfect lighting conditions, he flicks through the books of the Great Spirits, seeks the truth and finds its gap. Basically, however, this crazy habit ensures his survival – especially after the death of his wife, who makes him feel his own imperfection painfully and clearly.
Thom Luz staged Thomas Bernhards 1985 novel appeared as a bright, desperate homage to the special talents of lonely people and sets out in search of the declaration of love behind the hate tirade.
Awarded as the "Best Performance" at the International Festival of Plays Pleasant and Unpleasant in Łódź 2019.
Director Thom Luz
Music Mathias Weibel
Set Wolfgang Menardi, Thom Luz
Costumes Sophie Leypold
Stage lighting Thomas Langguth
Dramaturgy David Heiligers
Premiere
14 September 2018, Kammerspiele
14 September 2018, Kammerspiele
Katharina MatzMrs. Reger
Christoph FrankenIrrsigler
Camill JammalIrrsigler
Wolfgang MenardiIrrsigler
Daniele PintaudiAtzbacher
Camill JammalPianos
Daniele PintaudiPianos
Mrs. Reger
Irrsigler
Atzbacher
Pianos
der Freitag
Thom Luz stages Thomas Bernhard’s novel at the Deutsches Theater Berlin as a minimalist ghostly seance [...]
Thom Luz stages Thomas Bernhard’s novel at the Deutsches Theater Berlin as a minimalist ghostly seance [...]
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Berliner Morgenpost
With music and light, with great pleasure in absurd details in a captivating stage setting. It is unquestionably pretty to look at, and at times also funny. Many of Thom Luz’s skills as a theatre magician are on display here. [...]
With music and light, with great pleasure in absurd details in a captivating stage setting. It is unquestionably pretty to look at, and at times also funny. Many of Thom Luz’s skills as a theatre magician are on display here. [...]
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Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung
In Thom Luz’s witty and beautiful staging, Old Masters loses some of its intellectual heft, but gains in dynamic drama and anarchic entertainment. Like a skilful string quartet, the ensemble subtly and emphatically brings the novel into heart-felt motion. And so Thomas Bernhard’s grumpy view of art takes on a whole new dimension: it can be heard with the eyes and seen with the ears. What a pleasure!
In Thom Luz’s witty and beautiful staging, Old Masters loses some of its intellectual heft, but gains in dynamic drama and anarchic entertainment. Like a skilful string quartet, the ensemble subtly and emphatically brings the novel into heart-felt motion. And so Thomas Bernhard’s grumpy view of art takes on a whole new dimension: it can be heard with the eyes and seen with the ears. What a pleasure!
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Frankfurter Rundschau
Thom Luz brings vim and vigour to Thomas Bernhard’s Old Masters at the Deutsches Theater. [...]
Thom Luz brings vim and vigour to Thomas Bernhard’s Old Masters at the Deutsches Theater. [...]
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Junge Welt
Old Masters is a reminiscence that brings a smile to the face. It makes you want to reread the dusty novels of the great, but infamously cantankerous, Austrian novelist and to ponder on the power of his tirades. That is one of the production’s achievements. The other is that it entertains the audience in a most engaging way with music and a contemporary twist. [...]
Old Masters is a reminiscence that brings a smile to the face. It makes you want to reread the dusty novels of the great, but infamously cantankerous, Austrian novelist and to ponder on the power of his tirades. That is one of the production’s achievements. The other is that it entertains the audience in a most engaging way with music and a contemporary twist. [...]
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