Melk Summer Games – “Little Ants or Mighty Rulers”: The Power of Stage Design

The Wachau Arena is increasingly turning into a giant stadium these days. Oversized building blocks are stacked on a large chessboard. “The stage design is a play on the concept of play. For the spectacle of a power play,” says Maximilian Lindner.

This year he is part of the Summer Games team for the first time and is responsible for the stage design. This year's stage design changes the scale, explains Lindner: “This means that players can become little ants on the one hand, or powerful rulers, depending on the rules of the game you apply.”

This year's rulers are the Borgia family: the family plagued by scandals around Rodrigo Borgia, who became Pope Alexander VI. Was selected.

The building blocks for the theater playground were made in cooperation with the Bushlarn State Vocational School: 60 out of 90 blocks were built by students. According to Lindner, there is also a “little play with architectural styles” behind the building blocks: “Each era has produced its own building blocks and left traces. But you can see that it's all just building blocks in a set.”

Alexander Hauer, technical director, is happy with the input of the new flagship team. “Theatre in particular has a special place here: a set is being designed for two plays; Minor modifications are of course possible and necessary, but in principle the concept must take into account and serve two completely different forms of expression – drama and theatricality.”

In addition to “The Borgias – Game of Power” (premiere: Wednesday, June 12), this year there will also be the musical “Simply the Best – in der Schickeria” (premiere: Wednesday, July 3).

In creating the stage design, Lindner provided a suitable scene and foundation that “also combines the directors' incredibly playful styles,” Hauer asserts.

“Here in Malak, you also have to play with the background: the view of the monastery in the background is, on the one hand, a brand; at the same time, you have to counter that with something aesthetically strong,” says the art director.

Maximilian Lindner: About the person

Maximilian Lindner was born in Landshut in 1978, trained as a wood carver and later passed the master's exam. After spending several years working as a carpenter and sculptor at home and abroad, he began studying stage and costume design at the Munich Academy of Arts, where he first studied with Ezio Toffolotti and then with Catherine Braque. During his studies he was head of production at the Residenztheater.

He has been working as a freelance designer and video artist since 2014, working at Schauspiel Köln, Frankfurt, Essen, Residence Theater Munich, Düsseldorfer Schauspielhaus, Schauspielhaus Bochum, Burgtheater, and others.