TIROLER TAGESZEITUNG, editorial: “PR disaster in the festival hall”, by Markus Schramek

2023-10-24 20:00:36

Edition from Wednesday, October 25, 2023

Innsbruck (OTS) – With the expulsion of the entire “Everyman” ensemble, the glossy, elitist façade of the Salzburg Festival will suffer a deep crack. The decision seems remote and in no way understandable.

Salzburg, with its festivals, is the hub of summer high culture. The festival on the Salzach acts like an irresistible magnet for the A-league of cultural greats, whether they are Asmik Grigorian, Teodor Currentzis – or Michael Maertens, who, as it turns out, is only staying for one season. This year, more than a quarter of a million international guests made a pilgrimage to the stars: rich and beautiful, with the necessary change for the steep ticket prices.

With a budget of 70 million euros, the Salzburg Festival is also a tough business enterprise. The biggest cash cow of all is Hugo von Hofmannsthal’s very dusty, moralistic play “Everyman”. Last summer, almost 30,000 people wanted to watch 14 performances as the rich bon vivant mutated from Saul to Paul in fear of his death. For comparison: At the Innsbruck Festival there were 11,000 paying guests – for all program items combined.

The announcement of the cast is already being staged in the media: who is the everyman, who is his lover with her red dress and the sparse text? After Lars Eidinger and Tobias Moretti, Michael Maertens was hired again, directly from the Burgtheater, where the German has been very popular for years.

Maertens proved to be well suited to his summer job. At times he carried the “Everyman” almost alone. However, opinions differed and clashed over director Michael Sturminger’s production – his third version of the same material in the last seven years.

But what’s the point? Published theater criticism is not the gospel; tastes differ. And the production could have been improved for next summer. In any case, there is no obvious reason to send the entire ensemble, 50 people, from the star to the helpers, into the desert via email and simply ignore existing commitments and contracts.

Festival director Markus Hinterhäuser sits down in front of a TV camera in this embarrassing situation and explains in the tone of a confessor that the cumulative expulsion is “not a frivolous decision”. How otherworldly can you be, how aloof?

With the “Everyman” scandal, Salzburg’s festival is experiencing a PR disaster. One wonders what lies behind the facade of the highly polished mega event. The damage to the image has been done. The director himself is responsible for it.