No resting on laurels
Jens Harzer plays Edmund in O’Neill’s Long Day’s Journey into Night
There’s a touching poetic aura about the actor Jens Harzer. It has the effect that even moments of youthful cheerfulness can be overshadowed by a mysterious sadness. As a devastatingly young Death in Jedermann (Everyman) he introduced a previously unknown, less threatening insight characterised more by the melancholy of youth. Harzer also has an affinity to the souls of poets with their ups and downs. He gave an impressive demonstration of this in his portrayal of the sensitive young boy in Der Name, a character treated somewhat autobiographically by author Jon Fosse. He played the role of the father-to-be, taking him from a strange inwardness and hiding behind the protective shield of a friendly smile but who then energetically bursts forth into the realm of fantasy.
We can look forward to Harzer’s interpretation of Edmund in O’Neill’s Long Day’s Journey into Night, a play in which the author revealed much of his own personality. Edmund’s recollection of his wonderful time as a seafarer when he was absorbed by sea spray, sails and the ocean is the vision of a poet who tries to transcend his lamentable existence among the “foggy people” of his family. They all dream about a “perfect peace” that could heal their wounds from the desperate struggle between illusion and reality.
It goes without saying that in his professional life Jens Harzer also indulges in dreams. As he is totally absorbed by literary theatre, his dreams are about stage directors “who take the play and the author seriously and allow themselves to be enchanted by poetry”. Another dream for Harzer is when he can come nearer to the play and the world of the author, introduce his own ideas or allow himself to be completely transformed. Dieter Dorn’s theatre seems to be the right place for Harzer. He was born in Wiesbaden, trained at the Falckenberg Academy in Munich, received careful encouragement from his mentor Jörg Hube, and immediately after completing his studies was engaged at the Kammerspiele in Munich. There Harzer quickly became one of the most interesting young actors in German theatre. He played Faust in Urfaust, Amphitryon and Tasso, a wonderfully inhibited Garfunkel in Bauerntheater by Kroetz and a terrifying Kurt in Mayenburg’s Feuergesicht. In 2001, after making guest appearances in Hamburg and Berlin, Harzer took up an engagement at the Residenz Theatre in Munich. There he continues to play major roles, including Oedipus, a character he first created in Hamburg. In 2003, when he was awarded the Kurt Meisel Prize, Gisela Stein in her eulogy described him as “someone who does not rest on his laurels.”
Karin Kathrein
Eugene O’Neill
LONG DAY'S JOURNEY INTO NIGHT
New production
(performed in German)
Co-production with the Bavarian State Theatre Munich
Stage director Elmar Goerden • Sets Sylvia Merlo · Ulf Stengl • Costumes Lydia Kirchleitner • Lighting design Falk Hampel • Music Matteo Fargeon • Dramaturge Hans-Joachim Ruckhäberle
James Tyrone Helmut Griem • Mary Cavane Tyrone Cornelia Froboess • James Tyrone jr. Sohn Rainer Bock • Edmund Tyrone Jens Harzer • Cathleen Franziska Rieck
Premiere 14 August 2004, 7 p.m.
Further performances
16 and 17 August, 7 p.m.
18 August, 8 p.m.
19, 20, 22, 23, 25 and 26 August, 7 p.m.
Landestheater
Telephone +43 (0) 662 8045-500
Telefax +43 (0) 662 8045-555
info@salzburgfestival.at