Der Menschenfeind

Universitätsring 2

1010 Wien

 

Alceste despises the society around him for their hypocrisy and superficiality. His ideal is unconditional sincerity and truthfulness. He fanatically tries to convert those around him. Alceste's refusal to adapt to society's rules and behave diplomatically leads to bitter experiences. Since he does not praise the poet Oronte, but rather radically criticizes him, he makes him an enemy. Alceste loses the trial brought by Oronte because he refuses to bribe the judges. He ignores the well-intentioned advice of his loyal friend Philinte. However, Alceste experiences his greatest defeat in love: despite her affection for Alceste, the fun-loving widow Célimène, whom he is courting, refuses to seek solitude in the country with him and to be alone with a grumpy misanthrope in exchange for the attractive game of alternating flirtations to exchange. It remains to be seen whether Alceste will ultimately undertake the escape from the world that he constantly announces alone.

In DER MENSCHENFEIN, the playwright and director Jean-Baptiste Poquelin, known as Molière (1622–1673), enjoys scratching the surface, looking behind the glamorous party façade of a society that acts as if it regards categories such as morality or truth There would be a consensus of living together, while these have already dissolved. All characters have a feeling of being lost and lonely, a feeling that almost determines their existence and makes them appear unfree, despite all the sophistication of their language and their self-presentation.

 

(Source: burgtheater.a