The persecuted
| Data | |
|---|---|
| Original title: | The persecuted |
| Genus: | Drama in 20 scenes |
| Original language: | German |
| Author: | Luis Zagler |
| Publishing year: | 2017 |
| Premiere: | August 8, 2017 |
| Place of premiere: | Castle Festival Games Dorf Tirol |
The Persecuted is a drama in 20 pictures that Luis Zagler wrote between January and March 2017. It was premiered in the summer of 2017 as part of the first Dorf Tiroler Schlossfestspiele, staged by Oliver Karbus. The play is about the exclusion and persecution of Protestant believers by the judiciary and the church in Tyrol at the end of the 18th and beginning of the 19th century. The subject of the play is based on a true story.
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The action begins in 1792. Serafin Gorfer, a young man, wants to get married, but the authorities refuse him, which plunges him into a deep crisis. He withdraws, begins to read, enjoys books with Protestant beliefs and discovers a talent in dealing with healing knowledge that will turn his entire life plan upside down. Soon people from all over the world will come to him with their illnesses to be healed.
The secular and ecclesiastical authorities do not like that. Serafin Gorfer is slandered as a heretic, threatened and taken to the madhouse in Hall in Tyrol, where he is immediately released because wealthy patrons stand up for him. From then on, his reputation as a healer spread far beyond the country's borders and eventually reached the Habsburg imperial family in Vienna, where he healed Archduchess Leopoldine of Austria from a serious ailment.
In contrast, prison and torture await him in his homeland. Nevertheless, he was drawn back to where he volunteered for the Bavarian-French troops during the Tyrolean struggle for freedom in 1809, to the great surprise of his compatriots. However, serving in the troops plunged him into a life crisis that led to a nervous breakdown. After another spectacular healing success, a small group of like-minded people began to rally around him in 1822, who shared his Protestant beliefs and would henceforth go through thick and thin with him.
In the meantime, the relationships of power keep changing. If Tyrol was under Bavarian rule for a short time shortly before the Tyrolean struggle for freedom of 1809, the country was divided into three after its suppression. It was then awarded to the House of Habsburg again at the Congress of Vienna in 1814/15. As a result, secular and ecclesiastical authorities have recently come together to bring down the outsider and the group around him for good.
Slander, persecution, imprisonment and torture are again used as means. It comes to a process that ends with a guilty verdict and a new briefing. Serafin Gorfer was taken to the Lienz insane asylum, where he was released again shortly afterwards due to wealthy patrons. But then he fell ill on the week-long march over the mountains back to his home. In May of 1837 he met his friends again, before he died of a fatal fever. By order of the church, he is buried near the pigsty next to the Merano hospital.
background
In the play The Persecuted , Luis Zagler deals with the story of the ancestors of a woman who saw the television recording of his play Die Karrner , which premiered at the Tyrolean folk theater in Telfs in 1991. Zagler writes: “In 1991 an 80-year-old woman came to me and confided in me the story of her grandfather, whom she had to promise on her deathbed that she would make sure that as many people as possible heard about this story. As she told me, she tried in vain for more than 40 years to find someone who would have been able to turn this particular story into a drama. But then she heard about the success of my plays in Austria and came to me in 1991. It was an encounter I will never forget. She asked me to read her grandfather's script and familiarize myself with the material. In doing so, I learned that her grandfather was a direct descendant of the Protestant family players who were decried as the 'Lutherans' in the Vinschgau Valley and who played a special role in the play The Persecuted . After this encounter with the 80-year-old woman, another 20 years passed before I could start working on the piece. In a conversation with Paul Rösch, the mayor of Merano , I told them about my meeting with the woman and the events of the 18th and 19th centuries. Century. He encouraged me to work out the drama. The play then premiered in summer 2017. The 80-year-old woman had since passed away. But the story of their ancestors will live on. "
In addition to the stories of the woman and the notes of her grandfather, Luis Zagler was also able to fall back on the documentation by Richard Staffler, which he had published in the magazine Der Schlern in 1924.
Historical background
The historical framework is formed by the uprisings of the Tyroleans against the French and Bavarian attacks - as part of the coalition wars (1792 to 1815) - in particular the struggle for freedom of 1809 , and the reorganization of Europe at the Congress of Vienna .
The protagonists of the piece are based on historical characters.
roll
Judge
47 years old, a man of clear words, but colorful in his personality, who likes to use unconventional methods in certain situations. Always devoted to the female gender. He sees through the intentions and intrigues of others, but as a functionary always remains pragmatic and loyal to the system, which means that his endeavors for justice and justice ultimately fail.
Monsignor, Dean Johann Baptist Peuger, prince-bishop spiritual councilor and pastor
45 years old, handsome, dutiful, popular in his church. Intelligent, compassionate, but without mercy when it comes to his principles and loyalty to his church. In the struggle for the soul of the dying Christian player, Dean Peuger surpasses himself. Now it becomes clear that everything about him is real and true.
Doctor dr Vögele
Dr. Vögele is shown in the play as a torn personality who is very difficult to classify. Even his age is indefinable. He could be 40 or older. The fact that he takes a much younger, attractive woman as a widower with a daughter from his first marriage who has coughed up blood, Rebecca, indicates that he is not showing what is going on in him. Basically, Dr. Vögele a tragic figure, more a scientist than a doctor, caught up in his role as in his time. Being a doctor bores him. But when Serafin Gorfer rises to his secret competitor, he reacts offended and allows himself to be tempted to issue a certificate against Gorfer, which is extremely harsh and unjust.
Rebecca
At the beginning of the play, Rebecca is an attractive, lovable and lovable young woman of 22 years. In the course of time she develops into a strong personality who masters situations without dominating and masters her fate without betraying her ideals. Even in moments of her greatest triumph, she can still control herself. An incredibly strong female personality, born in the wrong century, whose real potential can never really come into its own. In the play she is the one who shows the 'rulers' what real greatness is.
Serafin Gorfer
28 years old, personable, talented and cosmopolitan. But then the church's ban on marriage changes everything about him. From now on he would prefer to be a politician, revolutionary, resistance fighter or world conqueror. His extraordinary talent, however, is the art of healing. Through them he is gaining more and more popularity, which leads to open conflict with the authorities. The course of the piece shows how the cheerful, hands-on character is broken more and more, until it finally breaks in the political and ecclesiastical system of the time.
Anna player
Anna is 14 years old at the beginning of the piece. She is a very warm person with great enthusiasm and an almost disarming, positive charisma. As a young, attractive woman, she goes her own way, headstrong and fearless. Her love for Serafin is so real and great that the question of the meaning and price of this love does not even arise.
Christian player
An imposing, taciturn personality from the peasant class with a role model function for the whole family. Where he is, there is decency and order. But then this ideal of a man finds itself in a completely new life situation. But here too he manages to remain himself. This is especially evident in the hour of his death. When Dean Peuger is supposed to save him from the threatening hell, he does not allow himself to be put off, but remains who he is.
Web links
Individual evidence
- ↑ The world is a stage. Retrieved February 9, 2019 .
- ↑ Timeless tragedy. Retrieved February 9, 2019 .
- ↑ Heinrich Kofler, History of the Deanery Schlanders, in Heinrich Kofler (ed.), Dorfbuch der Marktgemeinde Schlanders Vol. 2, Lana, 2010 p. 45 ff. Online