Bernhard’s last play Heldenplatz, viewed as an attack on Austria, caused a media sensation in Vienna in 1989 and brought widespread reactions of outrage that ranged from the man in the street to the highest government officials. Such criticism totally misconstrued the nature and purpose of the play, which in form, style, and content fits directly into the normal sequence of his plays. Using his standard technique of exaggeration and employing his outstanding linguistic talent, Bernhard contributes to the theme of Vergangenheitsbewältigung on the occasion of the fiftieth anniversary of the Anschluβ. A sickly character, Robert Schuster, representing a fatally ill Bern-hard, makes a last effort to confront the deficiencies of the land Bernhard loved, not hated, as is commonly assumed.
Director: Claus Peymann & C. Rainer Ecke.
Stars: Wolfgang Gasser, Kirsten Dene, Elisabeth Rath, Martin Schwab, Marianne Hoppe, Frank Hoffmann, Bibiane Zeller, Detlev Eckstein, Anneliese Römer, Therese Affolter.
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