Salzburg Festival launches world premiere of 'Crazy for Consolation'

The play "Crazy for Consolation," or "Verrückt nach Trost" in the original German, by German theatre director Thorsten Lensing premiered at the world-famous Salzburg Festival on Saturday evening.

Among the main actors was Devid Striesow, who is known from many film and television appearances. The author Lensing directed the play himself.

The three-and-a-half-hour play revolves around the growth of two siblings. The audience can follow the development and hardships of the two siblings Charlotte and Felix, initially 10 and 11 years old, over several decades.

"It's not about themes, Thorsten Lensing is more concerned with people in different constellations. The simultaneity and equivalence of different levels are important," actress Ursina Lardi said before the premiere. "It is a direct, clear language, but at the same time poetry without being mundane."

Lensing and the four-person acting team of Striesow, Lardi, André Jung and Sebastian Blomberg know each other very well as some of them have been working together for 20 years. For Striesow it was his first appearance at the Salzburg Festival.

Lensing's team had a great success with "Unendlicher Spaß" (Endless Fun) in 2018. The new play is a co-production with Les Théâtres de la Ville de Luxembourg, Sophiensæle Berlin, Kampnagel Hamburg, Theater Chur, asphalt Festival Düsseldorf, Theater im Pumpenhaus Münster and Künstlerhaus Mousonturm Frankfurt am Main.