Barbara Melzl

For her first production at the Residenztheater, the director Rieke Süßkow, renowned for the thoroughly composed aesthetic of her work, has chosen the last drama of the great Spanish writer Federico García Lorca. Its protagonist Bernarda Alba is a widow who declares eight years of mourning after the death of her husband and turns her house into a form of prison for her five daughters while unquestioningly accepting the patriarchal system of provincial Spain.

When Pippi Langstrumpf moves into the abandoned Villa Villekulla, a whirlwind enters the lives of Annika and Tommy. Along with her monkey Mr Nilsson and her horse Little Old Man, Pippi turns the children’s lives upside down. With her charm and humour, the remarkable pirate’s daughter makes fools of anyone who tries to keep her in check, whether they are policemen, bandits or concerned neighbours – because she’s the strongest girl in the world!

Ostend – the Atlantic coast, driving snow, New Year’s Eve, in the foyer of a hotel whose best days are behind it. This is where Minetti, an old «theatre artist», ends up lonely – and yet surrounded by a group of «madmen». Or are they like minds? Celebrating, wearing masks, drunk … of whom we do not know where they come from or where they are going to – they all pass across the hotel foyer like creatures from another world… Is this a comedy? Or a tragedy?