“Theatre is therapy.” In the weeklong masterclass held by professor of stage directing Anna Maria Krassnigg in Tel Aviv, this maxim was confirmed many times over.

In May 2023, the professor from the Max Reinhardt Seminar was invited by the Department of Theatre Arts at Tel Aviv University to hold a master class for acting and stage directing students. The results of their collaboration were showcased in “One Evening – One Morning”, based on Arthur Schnitzler’s play “Anatol”. Krassnigg developed the idea for the masterclass together with Ruth Schor, professor in the Department of Theatre Arts Department of Theatre Arts in Tel Aviv: “We wanted to penetrate into the heart of the canon and to apply Max Reinhardt’s methods and innovations to ‘Anatol’ in a practical and contemporary manner.”

The title “One Evening – One Morning” refers to two particularly turbulent scenes in “Anatol”: “Farewell supper” and “Anatol’s wedding morning”. As Krassnigg remarks: “We selected these scenes because they reveal many aspects of the issue of gender and can be located in a contemporary urban society like that of Tel Aviv or of any another major international city.” Krassnigg was delighted with the courage of the stage direction students: “They carried out the casting completely free from gender stereotypes. I’ve never seen an ‘Anatol’ like this anywhere in the German-speaking world.”

The Hebrew translation of “Anatol” was by Simon Levy, Israel’s leading Schnitzler translator and former director of the Department of Theatre Arts.

During the intensive week of work at the masterclass, Tel Aviv was the target of rocket attacks. After the end of the dress rehearsal, siren alarms sounded, and Krassnigg and the students had to seek shelter in protected spaces. “The inhabitants there have experience in dealing with these situations, but particularly with the students, you can sense a fragility because of the constant uncertainty,” observes Krassnigg.

In the face of this state of affairs, the students’ discussions about the importance of art and especially of theatre in present-day Israel were all the more intense.

The closing presentation by the masterclass was held at the “Lieblinghaus”, a museum and archive devoted to Bauhaus architecture. The overwhelmingly positive response by the audience and the enthusiasm of the students and teachers reinforced the desire for a continuation of this successfully partnership between the mdw and the Tel Aviv Department of Theatre Arts.

See the video documentation of “One Evening – One Morning”

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