STAGED READING | CLEMENS BERGER | ANGEL OF THE POOR

Young Austrian playwright Clemens Berger’s latest play, Angel of the Poor (Engel der Armen), recently premiered at Germany’s Staatstheater Darmstadt. The play has been translated to English (by none other than this year’s winner of the ACF Translation Prize, Damion Searls) and will be presented at the Austrian Cultural Forum in a staged reading. Andreas Robertz will direct the reading, which will feature the talents of Jen Danby, Mario Golden, Alban Merdani, Noemi de la Puente, Olivia Rorick, and Yvette Quintero. Clemens Berger will personally attend both readings of his play (the second reading takes place on February 2).

ABOUT THE PLAY

Young Marc Maló succesfully runs a low-end funeral home and calls himself the “Angel of the Poor”. Because he sells cheap funerals combined with short trips to the Swiss alps where the impoverished bereaved can scatter the ashes, he sees himself as the personification of charity. But while his business booms, rumors begin to circulate that begin to damage his reputation: every time Malo and his wife show up at a celebration, somebody dies, so people begin to avoid his company and call him the “Angel of Death”.
Despite all of this, Malo’s Swiss business partner invites him and his employees to her home. So: Who will die next?

The image is from the production at the Staatstheater Darmstadt, © Barbara Aumüller.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Austrian author and playwright Clemens Berger (born 1979) studied philosophy in Vienna where he still lives and works. He has received several prizes and scholarships for his novels and plays. His most recent publications include: Das Streichelinstitut (2010), Und hieb ihm das rechte Ohr ab (2009), Gatsch / Und Jetzt. Zwei Stücke (2009), Die Wettesser (2007), Paul Beers Beweis (2005), Der gehängte Mönch (2003)

For more information, please visit http://www.clemensberger.at/

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