INGOLSTADT

They all want out. The outsider Roelle, who styles himself as a saint and tries to manipulate the closeness of the monastery student Olga, who accidentally got pregnant. Fabian, who has fallen in love with Berta, the maid of his father, who is fascinated by private Korl, who is cold and indifferend. And their friend Alma, who tries to gain independence by prostituting herself.

These are the hottest days of a long summer in the stifling confines of the Catholic province, full of dark brooding energy that seeks its valves with cruel regularity at the weakest points. The violence in Marieluise Fleißer’s INGOLSTADT wears the masks of religion, family, military order, and sexuality. However, its medium is language. Language contains the order of the world called Ingolstadt; in language, all possible ways out of it are contained and blocked. Marieluise Fleißer (1901-1974) is a unique figure in German-language drama of the 20th century. She was promoted by Lion Feuchtwanger, admired (and almost destroyed) by Bertolt Brecht, and had a whole generation of German post-war dramatists under her influence.

After several major performances at the Vienna Festival, the internationally successful director Ivo van Hove is staging a play in Vienna for the first time.