Die G'schicht vom Brandner Kasper (The Story of Kasper Brandner)
after Franz von Kobellafter Franz von Kobell
After quarter of a century, the time has come at last: Der Brandner Kasper returns to the Residenztheater!
This short story in dialect by Franz von Kobell, inspired by a medieval poem, has been staged repeatedly since it was first published in the «Fliegende Blätter» in 1871 and filmed on several occasions – it is an element of Bavarian cultural heritage with cult appeal.
The story can be told very quickly: it is time for a hale and hearty seventy-five year-old locksmith and beater from Tegernsee to go to Heaven. However, Kasper defeats the Boanlkramer – a grim reaper with very human characteristics who St. Peter had sent to summon the old man – at cards and in a drinking contest. Kasper is able to negotiate another fifteen years before he has to enter the pearly gates.
«Die G’schicht vom Brandner Kasper» is a heart-moving play about the deeply human desire to counteract our own mortality with a lot of humour and energy and to live the dream of eternal youth. It was performed over one thousand times at the Residenztheater between 1975 and 2001.
Philipp Stölzl is from Munich: he grew up with the play and loves its offbeat humour. He is a director who has shown in his theatre and opera productions as well as his film works that he is not afraid of telling big stories with big emotions. In his new old «Brandner Kasper» he asks that most elementary of human questions: How do I deal with my own mortality?
