The Magic Mountain

as part of the 19th International Divine Comedy Festival

Event description

At the Jaunimo Teatras (Youth Theatre) in Vilnius, Krystian Lupa, one of the most important figures in European theatre, has created an adaptation of Thomas Mann’s The Magic Mountain, the master novel of the twentieth century. The story of Hans Castorp, who almost by chance becomes a patient at a sanatorium in Davos, and unexpectedly spends seven years of his life there he tells has become a modern myth about coming of age, about the inner dynamics of European culture, and, finally, about the fragility of human life tossed and turned by the winds of history. The novel resonates intensely with motifs that recur in Lupa’s productions: the entanglement of life with death, and of physiology with metaphysics and with illness as a state of particular existential sensitivity.

The structure of the production alludes to the genesis of the novel. Mann began it before the outbreak of the First World War and continued to work on it after the war ended, clearly under strong influence of its events. The production’s two parts represent the world before and after the catastrophe – the old order and the new, which merge in human experience. In Vilnius, Lupa has not as much created a monumental literary adaptation as he did stage the relationship between the novel’s content and the figure of its author, who sees himself mirrored in Hans Castorp. The resulting trio of voices are: Mann as the author of the novel, Castorp as its main protagonist recounting his own fate, and Lupa as a second narrator, linking the world of the book with the present day. Czarodziejska góra / The Magic Mountain is a tribute to Mann’s masterpiece, but also a reflection on the fate and creations of one who finds history a both destructive and inspiring force.


The production premiered at the prestigious Salzburg Festival.


Text Adaptation, Set and Lighting Design: Krystian Lupa
Costume Design: Piotr Skiba
Music: Wladimir Schall
Video Direction: Natan Berkowicz
Photography Direction: Nikodem Marek
Video Projections and Surtitles: Stanislaw Zielinski
Cast: Donatas Želvys, Matas Dirginčius, Valentinas Masalskis, Viktorija Kuodytė, Aleksas Kazanavičius, Sergejus Ivanovas, Alvydė Pikturnaitė, Aušra Giedraitytė, Janina Matekonytė, Aušra Pukelytė, Ignas Ciplijauskas, Paulina Taujanskaitė, Matas Sigliukas, Neringa Bulotaitė, Gintautė Rusteikaitė, Rūta Jonikaitė, Aistė Rocevičiūtė, Audrius Rimašauskas

Produced by: Youth Theatre in Vilnius
Premiere: 20 August 2024
Running Time: 320 minutes, with one interval