Das Werk (The Work)

“The Work” deals with the construction of the hydro-electric plant in Kaprun which cost at least 160 (forced) labourers their lives during and after the Second World War and about the accident in the Kaprun funicular railway in 2000 when 155 ski-tourists were burnt to death. Just as Kaprun stands here as a monstrous metaphor for post-war Austria, the play “The Work” should be seen as a dam, behind which powerful masses of text are hidden. The author knocks holes in the wall of the dam almost inquisitively, the language flows in finely dosed portions onto a stage ankle deep in water. The most varied ways of treating this author’s texts are collected in this production into a most confined space: A “Best of Jelinek”, so to speak.
Wolfgang Kralicek