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General Information
The theatrical spectacle Alma, after a text by Israeli author
Joshua Sobol, is a journey through Alma Mahler’s life,
staged as a "polydrama", with various plot elements
running in parallel. It is more than a theatre play, it is
an act of watching lives being lived, the life of enchantress
and devourer of genius. It’s theatre that smells of life
itself.
Alma Mahler, born Schindler, later Gropius, later Werfel
- lover and life partner of some of the leading artists of
her day, including Oskar Kokoschka, Gustav Klimt, Alexander
Zemlinsky. Muse, mistress and termagant. She claimed to provide
a "leg-up" - for the best in every man: "Every
genius is simply one more perfect feather for my nest."
Alma, eternally tempting woman, was known as the "widow
of the four arts". Posthumously, she has even conquered
a fifth art: theatre. "Alma”, the play, has created
a monument to her which is indeed "entirely worthy of
his predecessors” (Süddeutsche review).
"Alma" is the act of eavesdropping on a love life.
The play creates not just atmosphere but also extremely intimate
moments - although, or indeed because, the audience is right
up close to the performers, literally coming into bodily contact
with them on the sofas and armchairs of the salons.
Simultaneous theatre offers both want and abundance; who
should you follow? Where should you go first? Follow one Alma
into the bedroom to find Gropius, where you are voyeur to
their intimacies, or perhaps better go down into the kitchen,
where another Alma is haring about with Gustav Mahler? Outside,
Werfel flees to Palestine in a truck, together with a group
of spectators; up in his studio, the wild Kokoschka falls
passionately upon his beloved. Four Almas are at disposal,
with an aged diva on top, who - having returned from the dead
- invites all those present to a party, and her three younger
incarnations.
As you follow them, you are able to assemble the pieces of
Alma's biography bit by bit - yet you never fully grasp the
whole. Still you have this feeling of not seeing enough. When
Gustav Mahler dies at half-time, his funeral banquet can be
followed interactively to his music, and the spectators are
subsequently invited to a sumptuous buffet-dinner during the
interval with Austrian specialities, sweets and a special
"Alma”-wine from Spain, which is part of the performance,
and included in the ticket prize.
"Alma" is more than a theatre spectacle, it is
a piece of theatrical fascination. A complete work of art
- ingenious, sensual and full of passion.
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