Princess Dramas - Death and the Maiden I-V

(Prinzessinnendramen)

Cast

variable casting, min. 1F / 1M

Five one-act plays about six “princesses”, whose deaths are well known from fairy-tales, music, literature and media, are called on to speak. Snow White (I) strays through the forest “in search of truth,” soon wishing she had never seen the wood for the trees; she is an easy target for the hunter who murders her there. Sleeping Beauty (II) is woken by Mr. Right’s kiss but quickly freezes up when faced with their imminent mating. In Rosamunde (III) “a princess speaks from her home far away in the wilderness, (…) who indulges in delusions of grandeur and in her own writing (…) and who somehow manages to survive after all.” (Elfriede Jelinek). Jackie (IV) on the other hand, a glamorous ex-First Lady, drags herself with a whole host of corpses onto the stage, where she sardonically reviews her life and that of the famous, dead Marilyn, her husband’s lover. In The Wall (V) two female icons of writing, Ingeborg (Bachmann) and Sylvia (Plath) celebrate a ritual slaughtering. A long way from conventional stories of victims and perpetrators, Jelinek’s Princess Dramas are a sort of power and mentality history of the sexes, written with an unflinching gaze, unorthodox, bitterly serious and disarmingly self-mocking.

World premiere
22.10.2002 Teil I-III, Deutsches Schauspielhaus Hamburg (Director: Laurent Chétouane)
24.11.2002 Teil IV-V, Deutsches Theater Berlin (Director: Hans Neuenfels)

Translations / Productions
Bulgarian premiere II: 01.11.2007 Theater Studio Persona, Sofia (Translator: Vladko Murdarov)
Chinese premiere IV: 04.09.2015 Beijing Chaoyang Nine Theatre (Translator: Yuqing Wei, Director: Yiou Penelope Peng)
Croatian premiere IV: Aug. 2007 Festival Karantena, Dubrovnik / Mini Teater, Ljubljana (Ljubljana Premiere : 08.02.2008) in Croatian (Translator: Snježana Rodek, Director: Ivica Buljan)
Czech premiere IV: Jan. 2007 Divadlo Na Prádle, Prag (Translator: Barbora Schnelle, Director: David Czesany)
Danish premiere IV: 06.03.2010 Caféteatret Kopenhagen (Translators: Karen-Maria Bille, Gerz Feigenberg, Director: Gerz Feigenberg)
Dutch premiere I, II, IV: 04.11.2008 Dood Paard, Amsterdam (Translator: Ria van Hengel)
English language premiere (Australia) I, II, IV: 08.06.2011 Red Stitch Theatre, Melbourn (Translator: Gitta Honegger, Director: André Bastian)
Finnish premiere IV: 01.10.2024 Teatteri Avoimet Ovet / Myllyteatteri, Helsinki (Translator: Jukka-Pekka Pajunen, Directors: Jaakko Kiljunen / Maiju Tainio)
French language premiere (Canada) IV: 05.10.2010 Espace Go, Montréal / UBU, compagnie de création (Directors: Denis Marleau / Stéphanie Jasmin) // (Kanada) IV: 05.10.2010 Espace Go, Montréal / UBU, compagnie de création (Translators: a) Magali Jourdan & Mathilde Sobottke (all plays), b) Florence Hetzel (Jackie), Director: Denis Marleau et Stéphanie Jasmin)
Greek premiere IV: 21.10. 2009 Syn-Epi, Apo Michanis Theatro, Athens (Translator: Giorgos Depastas, Director: Angela Brouskou)
Italian premiere (Jackie) 15.02.2006 CRT Milan (Translators: Luigi Reitani/Werner Waas, Director: Werner Waas)
Portuguese premiere 18.12.2015 Teatro Estúdio António Assunção (Artes e Engenhos) (Translator: Anabela Mendes; Director: Alexandre Pieroni Calado)
North Macedonian premiere I, II, IV, V: 15.11.2024 Drama Theater Skopje (Translator: Katerina Shekutskovska; Director: Živa Bizovicar)
Norwegian premiere 29.08.2011 Trøndelag Teater, Trondheim (Translators: Torgeir Skorgen and Matilde Holdhus)
Polish premiere I-V: 30.05.09 Theater Dramatyczny, Warschau (Translator: Dorota Sajewska, Directors: Małgorzata Głuchowska, Agnieszka Korytkowska-Mazur, Maria Kwiecien, Dagmara Lutoslawska, Suse Wächter)
Slovenian premiere I, II, III, IV: 10.09.2005 Presernovo Gledalisce, Kranje (Translators: Urska Cerne (Schneewittchen), Anja Ursic (Dornröschen), Sandra Baumgartner (Rosamunde), Amalija Macek (Die Wand),Director: Ivica Buljan)
Spanish language premiere (Argentina) IV: June 2010 Espacio Polonia, Buenos Aires (Translator: Ela Fernández-Palacios, Director: Isaul Ferreira)
Swedish premiere I-V: 17.09.2004 Teater Galeasen, Stockholm (Translator: Magnus Lindman, Director: Rickard Günther)

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