Zermatt Magazin 2017

Romeo und Julia | Zermatt Magazin 45
Open Air Theatre in Zermatt
Romeo and Julia at the Gornergrat
Following the huge success of
the play originally staged in
summer 2015, “The Matterhorn
Story”, Zermatt is going to put
on another attractive open air
play in July and August this
year. Berne-based author and
director Livia Anne Richard will
once again be responsible for
overseeing the production.
Experience with emotions
The completely new version of this
play is based on the tragic love story
of “Romeo und Julia auf dem Dorfe”.
This prose novella by Gottfried
Keller has been adapted for the performances
at the Gornergrat in an
independent dramatisation, with
the action moved to the mountain
village of Zermatt.
The play brings large emotional themes
like love, freedom and independence
to the stage. The audience is
immersed in the small world of Jacob
(Romeo) and Maria (Julia).
What starts as a childhood friendship
between two neighbouring
children develops into a great love
story. A dispute over a piece of land
pits their parents against each other,
which proves an obstacle to the relationship
and inevitable marriage of
the two young adults. The couple
therefore get drawn ever deeper into
an almost insoluble conflict between
their feelings and their sense of duty
to their families. Both eventually
find a way to free themselves from
this all-encompassing pressure.
The 90-minute open air play will
again be performed mostly by local
amateur thespians with varying degrees
of acting experience, who are
prepared for their roles by the director
in countless rehearsals according
to their talent and character. In
this way, Livia Anne Richard manages
to achieve an exceptionally high
degree of authenticity in the story,
which guarantees that the audience
will enjoy a unique theatrical experience
against the splendid backdrop
of the famous Matterhorn.
The main characters of Jakob and
Maria as adults will be played by
David Taugwalder and Romaine
Müller, both from Zermatt itself,
who played key roles in the successful
production of “The Matterhorn
Story” in 2015.
Rehearsals will start in February and
ticket sales will open in March. The
play will be produced by the tried
and tested team from 2015 under
Managing Director Matthias Blum.
Riffelalp open air stage
The organisers are planning to stage
a total of 38 performances between
6 July and 27 August 2017 on
the Riffelalp open air stage, 2600
metres above sea level. The performances
will be held from Wednesday
to Saturday at 7.30 pm with a
Sunday matinee at 3.00 pm. The
stands offer seating for a maximum
of 700 people. Unlike 2015, this
time the play will be entirely spoken
in Swiss dialect. Audience members
unfamiliar with Swiss German will
be offered scene descriptions in
German, English and French to
help them to follow the plot. The
price of the ticket includes a return
trip on the Gornergrat Railway.
There will once again be a number
of attractive packages to include the
open air play, dinner and/or hotel
accommodation. The experience of
2015 suggests that it is highly recommended
that tickets are reserved
as early as possible. zm
www.freilichtspiele-zermatt.ch
The Matterhorn
Story
A few facts from summer 2015
underline the significance of
this unique theatrical performance.
Over the 36 performances
held, organisers welcomed
over 23,000 audience members
to the Riffelalp. Around half
came from Valais but over
5,000 guests came from the
neighbouring canton of Bern.
However, a considerable number
of holiday guests were also
keen to attend this cultural
event. A team of around 60
people ensured that the theatre
audience was well looked after
and entertained. The weather
gods also played their part:
Thanks to a wonderful summer,
only four performances had to
be cancelled or cut short due to
bad weather.