Holzfällen

When actor Nicholas Ofczarek and the Musicbanda Franui bring Thomas Bernhard’s novel Holzfällen to the stage, a unique format emerges: the evening is not a reading, nor is it musical theatre, a theatre performance or a radio play – and yet it has something of all of these. Holzfällen is tailor-made for this constellation of performers: over dozens of pages, the first-person narrator observes from the distance of his wing chair an ‘artistically’ apostrophised Viennese evening party waiting for the announced arrival of a Burgtheater actor. Most of the people in this society are connected to each other, as their friend Joana, who took her own life, was buried that same afternoon.

The East Tyrolean musicians accompany the narrator with funeral marches and musical reflections that both accentuate and counteract what is said. With their instruments, which range from classical to folk music, they create a unique soundscape that elevates Bernhard’s text to new heights.