Kasimir and Karoline

KASIMIR AND KAROLINE by Ödön von Horváth

"Love never ends" is the motto for Horváth's "ballad" of the Munich Oktoberfest in the early 1930s. However, the love between Kasimir, who has been fired as a chauffeur on this day, and Karoline, who can't let go of her higher ambitions, ends already in the third of one hundred and seventeen scenes with the words: "Take care of yourself!" Thus, the seemingly malicious statement that love never ends continues to hold true throughout the play. The fact that love in this play is mainly used as a vehicle for social ascent and descent makes it, in a sense, only more enduring. But not more constant, because every new opportunity for a (better) life must be seized immediately, and there is no time to look back: "What is dead is dead, and there are no ghosts, especially not between the sexes." Karoline, who rises from the dismissed chauffeur to a momentary relationship with a commercial counselor and ultimately ends up with a tailor from the children's department, tries to achieve with calculation what she evidently cannot with emotion: "People without feelings have a much easier life." The coldness that Horváth's characters display in this 1932 play is something they will still need.

Program and cast

Duration and Breaks: 1 hour 30 minutes - no intermission

CAST
Felix Rech - Kasimir
Marie-Luise Stockinger - Karoline
Markus Meyer - Rauch
Markus Hering - Speer
Jonas Hackmann - Schürzinger
Christoph Luser - Der Merkel Franz
Mavie Hörbiger - Dem Merkel Franz seine Erna
Lili Winderlich - Elli
Maresi Riegner - Maria
Elisabeth Augustin - Paramedic
Wolfram Rupperti - The Doctor
Christoph Griesser - The Announcer
Sophie Aujesky - The Announcer
Olivier Blau - Juanita
Musicians from Federspiel - Brass Band
Franziska Hatz - Accordion, Vocals
Barry O Mahony - Banjo, Vocals
Luis Brettschuh - Extra
Stefan Glawischnig - Extra
Elvis Häber - Extra
Lukas Hagenauer - Extra
Johannes Kirchner - Extra
Moritz Krainz - Extra
Alexander Mayer - Extra
Karl Jakob Schäfer - Extra
Johannes Pietsch - Extra
Wolfgang Schöbitz - Extra
Gregor Schuster - Extra
Valeriu Ursu - Extra
Marlene Glösmann - Extra
Sonja Hanl - Extra
Lena Reinhardt - Extra
Sara Siedlecka - Extra
Hannah Wassner - Extra

Direction: Mateja Koležnik
Set Design: Raimund Orfeo Voigt
Assistant Set Design: Thilo Ullrich
Costumes: Ana Savić-Gecan
Lighting: Michael Hofer
Sound Design: Christoph Mateka
Composition: Michael Gumpinger
Choreography: Magdalena Reiter
Dramaturgy: Sebastian Huber