Direction Lucia Bihler
Stage Pia Maria Mackert
Costumes Laura Kirst
Composition Jörg Gollasch
Choreography & Directorial Assistance Paulina Alpen
Light Norbert Piller
Dramaturgy Alexander Kerlin
Sound Design Thomas Felder, Clara Tesarik
General Martin Schwab
General Maria Happel
Writer Markus Scheumann
Asamer, Woodcutter Jan Bülow
First Minister Arthur Klemt
Second Minister Robert Reinagl
Anna, Cook Dunja Sowinetz
Princess Soleil Jean-Marain, Livia Khazanehdari
Prince Vito Vidovič, Soleil Jean-Marain
Twins Two Vienna Boys' Choir
Duration: 120 minutes no intermissions
In a hunting lodge, far from the city, in the midst of a gigantic breeding forest, the general and the writer are waiting for the arrival of the general: a proud Stalingrad veteran, large landowner, hunter, and high-ranking politician at the height of his power. It is snowing, and the servant Asamer is heating up against the winter cold. The conversation between the general and the poet revolves around the final state in which the old general and his world actually find themselves, contrary to appearances.
The forest is ravaged by bark beetles and must be logged, an incurable disease rages within the general's body, and his eyesight is affected by cataracts, blindness only a matter of time. The general does not foresee the inevitable, dual downfall: His wife is trying by all means to conceal the incurable diseases of the forest and body from him. When the general finally arrives at the hunting lodge with his entourage of ministers, prince, and princess, preparing for the hunt, he is still unaware that it could be his last one.
Thomas Bernhard has repeatedly described DIE JAGDGESELLSCHAFT as one of his most successful works. Almost 50 years after its premiere at the Burgtheater in 1974, director Lucia Bihler, house director at the Berliner Volksbühne from 2019 to 2021, dedicated herself to the new staging of Bernhard's rarely performed linguistic masterpiece for the Akademietheater.