Brave Johanna captured Theatre Dschungel Wien.
To make the story of Joan of Arc tempting to the eleven- year-olds of today, sounds like no easy task. “I have thought about what she could be today. She stands for courage, self-confidence, hope, faith, self-determination. Suddenly I had a whole bunch of themes. And then it came very easily to me.,” said Cornelia Rainer about her decision: “We bring Johanna into the present.” The young director has taken over the project of the Dschungel Wien Theater on short notice from the author Holger Schober. The result is “Johanna”, a monologue for four female voices. The premiere is on Thursday, April 25th.
Rainer on the wave of success.
2012 was a strong year for this lady of the theater, born in 1982 in Lienz /Tyrol. With her play “Lenz” she participated in the Young Directors Project (YDP) of the Salzburg Festival. “That was a incredible experience that I wouldn’t have wanted to miss a single second of. The pressure there is completely different, the international attention too,” Rainer said in an interview with APA. There had been reviews “ranging from not so good to enthusiastic.” It didn’t win the prize, but it was not a disappointment, she says. In the Fall followed Shakespeare’s “The Tempest” at the Stadttheater Klagenfurt. “Every new play is always a next step. It goes on continuously.
2013 is dedicated to the children and young people’s theatre.
This year Rainer works out children’s and youth theater projects. After “I WANNA BE (MADE)”, “Johanna” is her second play, written by herself for the theater Dschungel Wien. The focus is on thoughts of young women who are considering how it would be to break out of the straitjacket of the outside influences of school and family.They ask themselves: What is worth fighting for? What do I believe? What are my limits? What is important to me in life? They are based on the figure of Joan of Arc (1412-1431) who led the French against the English during the Hundred Years War, and who was captured and burned as a heretic. Cornelia Rainer lived and worked in France for some time, where Joan of Arc was given the role of a national saint. “In memory of Joan of Arc Le Pen and his political party Front National march on May 8th. Thereby she is highly associated with the right wing. I have intentionally omitted this aspect.
Historical Monologue for Kids.
Her play is performable as a monologue, but for the first performance she has split the role of Joan among four young actresses (Sophie Aujesky, Sophie Behnke, Anna Lisa Grebe and Louise Knof), explains Rainer: “I found it very fitting that four young women share the role because they themselves are in their way -. a counterpart to the voices that are heard by Johanna. “Zither player Karl Stirner provides the musical element of the evening. “Music is a core constant in my work,” says Rainer, who studied classical singing and occassionally appears with the East Tyrolean music group Franui. 2014, the director hopes to be able to take on musical theater projects. Already for this Fall an opera for children and adolescents in the context of “Wien Modern” is in the works. APA