Audience Reaction to Woyzeck in Winter at GIAF 17

Audience reaction to the world premiere of Woyzeck in Winter, the Landmark Productions and Galway International Arts Festival production, starring Camille O'Sullivan and Patrick O'Kane, which took place as part of Galway International Arts Festival (GIAF) 2017.

“Phenomenal”, “epic”, “brutal”, “poetic”, “absolutely stunning”, “devastating”, “powerful”, “fast-paced”, “thought-provoking”, and “unmissable” are just some of the adjectives Galway International Arts Festival audiences had for this production, which opens the autumn Theatre and Dance programme at London’s prestigious Barbican Centre in September and plays Dublin Theatre Festival in October.

Woyzeck in Winter is an electrifying fusion of two masterpieces: Büchner's Woyzeck and Schubert's Die Winterreise. Starring Patrick O'Kane and Camille O'Sullivan, and a cast of extraordinary Irish actors - including the legendary Rosaleen Linehan - the play had its world premiere in the Black Box Theatre in Galway on Monday 17 July 2017 as part of Galway International Arts Festival.

Woyzeck and Die Winterreise were written within ten years of each other - the twenty-four songs of Die Winterreise in 1827, the twenty-four scenes of the play in 1836 - by troubled geniuses, both of whom died young. Thrillingly re-imagined by Conall Morrison and a leading creative team, this daring new production is sung in English.

Woyzeck - a poor soldier - earns extra money for his family through menial jobs and participation in bizarre medical experiments. Brutalised by society and consumed with jealousy, he is driven to the far side of alienation and despair – and finally to a desperate, violent act.

Exploiting the uncanny similarities between these two dark masterworks, adaptor and director Conall Morrison draws on Schubert’s sublime music to illuminate the inner landscape of Woyzeck’s tortured mind. With the startling story set amid a terrain of broken pianos (the set design is by Jamie Vartan), vivid scenes flow seamlessly into raw, passionate songs, translated into English by Stephen Clark.

The music is played live at each performance by musical director Conor Linehan, and the phenomenal Irish cast also includes such outstanding actor-singers as Stephen Brennan, Peter Coonan, Susannah De Wrixon, Rory Nolan, Shane O'Reilly and Barry McGovern.

For more, see here.