After a successful test run on three evenings in 2005, this year the SummerTheaterFestival "Barock am Main", which has grown to become a permanent fixture in the Hessian cultural landscape, will take place for the eleventh time from July 13 to August 7 in the historic ambience of the garden of the Bolongaro Palace in Frankfurt/Höchst. A group of theatre-makers around the Heidelberg-born elective Frankfurt resident Michael Quast and the playwright Wolfgang Deichsel, whose Molière transmissions from southern Hesse have formed the heart of the festival, have made it their goal to present the visitors of "Barock am Main" at a high level. The death of Wolfgang Deichsel in February 2011 left a big gap, which Rainer Dachselt has meanwhile filled in an absolutely worthy manner. And so, in the spirit of Deichsel, the "hessian Moliere" goes again this summer with a great program to the start.
The play DER HERR VON WUTZEBACH, a musical comedy based on Molières "Monsieur de Pourceaugnac" with the music of Jean-Baptiste Lully will provide this year for salvos of laughter on the banks of the Main in Höchst. The Lord of Wutzebach (Matthias Scheuring), a man from the countryside, wants to have a little fun in the big city of Frankfurt before picking up his bride. But the "Moloch" Frankfurt shows him its particularly unpleasant side: devious jugglers, cunning lawyers, questionable doctors, wild women and the city guard drive the gentle country soul of the Lord of Wutzebach to the brink of madness. Whether he can still escape this, the visitors will find out in a colourful mixture of play, dance and song. Rainer Dachselt has made a real Frankfurt play out of Molières original, which shows what happens when mutual prejudices and radically different views meet. There is a certain topicality to it.
As a special feature, there will also be a big children's festival for the first time this year on 17 July - with lots on offer and surprises in keeping with the baroque spirit of the festival. At 3 p.m. on this day, the play DER ZAUBERLEHRLING will be performed for children from the age of 5.
In previous performances, the audience has not only burst into peals of laughter, but time and again into frenetic storms of applause. This is primarily due to the fact that no flat translation of the original is presented, but that the makers of the festival have succeeded in transferring the original wordplay and charm of Molières work into Hessian, thus creating something completely new and original from the well-known plays. In addition, the performances also live from a certain spontaneity, when, for example, the weather conditions or the loud background noise of a party ship passing on the Main are incorporated into the action. All this combined with the very special atmosphere of the venue makes this festival a very special experience for its visitors. And therefore it can be assumed that the impressive number of 16,000 visitors last year will even be surpassed in the course of the 2016 performances.
A little bit of melancholy, however, also resonates with all the positive news about this year's festival. After the 2016 season, "Barock am Main" will have to say goodbye to the actually perfect venue of the Bolongarogartens. Since the Bolongaropalast is being extensively renovated, the garden will not be available for at least 2-3 years. At the moment, a successor venue is still being sought at full speed. But it is clear to the makers that they want to remain loyal to Höchst in any case. And in a few years, the festival will certainly return to the Bolongarogarten.
Whoever does not want to miss these wonderful productions for the last time in the unique ambience on the banks of the Main in Höchst should quickly secure one of the remaining tickets! All further information is available on the homepage of the theatre festival.
The seats are numbered and covered. The park opens 90 minutes before the start of each performance. Until the start of the play there will be baroque live music and sophisticated gastronomy
