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Handke’s New Stage Work Premieres to Ovation in Salzburg

The sparse, language‑driven production won strong praise for its two lead actors and will move to the Berliner Ensemble for a Berlin run.

Overview

  • The world premiere of Peter Handke’s Schnee von gestern, Schnee von morgen took place at the Salzburger Festspiele on Monday, July 27, 2026, and concluded with prolonged applause and a standing ovation.
  • Handke appeared on stage at the end of the performance, received visible emotion and recognition from the audience, and personally embraced performers Jens Harzer and Marina Galic.
  • Director Jossi Wieler transformed Handke’s 2025 monologue into a two‑person stage piece that emphasizes language and interaction over plot, and critics singled out Harzer and Galic for finely tuned, varied deliveries.
  • The short, non‑conventional text reads as a meandering, poetic reflection on memory, mortality and everyday moments, and Suhrkamp describes it as “a piece for the stage, a drama without speaker change, a song without refrain.”
  • The Salzburg production is a coproduction with the Berliner Ensemble and is scheduled to premiere in Berlin on August 29, 2026, while the evening also reflects programming choices made earlier by former Festspielintendant Markus Hinterhäuser.