Das Werk
A funicular train accident as a reminder of a time-barred memory. The critical play of the Austrian Nobel prize winner is based on the disaster in Kaprun, Alps where 155 people died in a funicular train fire in 2000. Not far from the disaster scene, a controversial building of one of the biggest water accumulating hydroelectric power plant stands which has claimed lives of 160 workers since 1938 when the construction started. The history of construction of the water “work” in Kaprun – a theme that Jelinek already studied in her older play In the Alps – is for the writer symbol for history of the Austrian hateful attitude towards the foreigners with all its consequences – from victims of Nazism to foreign workers who died because of inhuman work conditions. Reflection of human foolishness tempting us to tame nature with technology and make it part of the tourist industry in audio-visually intoxicating adaptation by Miroslav Bambušek.
