Top performances at the Salzburg Festival Moments when the gap is not bridged The Festival got going on the Perner Island on Monday with Jan Lauwers’ Das Hirschhaus ("The Deer House"). A deeply moving performance and part of his trilogy. Rubber deer fall onto the stage from the flies, landing with a decisive thud. Mainly just torsos with vestiges of dangling legs. You can see the antlers hanging on cloakroom hooks. This is the way hunting is done on the Perner Island in Hallein at the moment. Rubber sheep and other game, stacked somewhat aimlessly on trolleys, line the rear part of the bright wide space in the former warehouse, used with verve by the Salzburg Festival for theatre performances since the beginning of the 90’s. Drama director Thomas Oberender was able to engage Jan Lauwers’ Needcompany with its Flemish artists to stage the premiere of Das Hirschhaus in the old warehouse down by the Salzach with its unstuffy atmosphere and wide spaces destined for large-scale theatre productions. Das Hirschhaus is the third part of the Sad Face/Happy Face trilogy. The other two parts are The Lobster Shop and the mighty Isabella’s room. At its Monday premiere, Das Hirschhaus drew a bright line through a sad story that all began with the death of the brother of dancer Tijen Lawton, a war photographer. Lauwers calls his theme the mourning and loss of a loved one and uses theatre as a way of overcoming it. In a mixture of fairy tale and drama, Lauwers opens up more and more unknown gaps for the audience to discover. There is a wide range on offer - choreographic, visual or lyrical -, with fairy-tale elements (actors with ridiculous hobbit ears) juxtaposed with the great (Greek) tragedies (scenes melting into choral music) only to find their individual identities shortly before they melt together. Such moments when gaps remained unbridged preoccupy the audience. That’s just what the plot is all about. In a deer house ("Das Hirschhaus") in the war-stricken mountains a matriarch (Viviane de Muynck) runs a family business selling antlers. A war photographer brings home her dead daughter (the scene in which the corpse is dressed is one of the most touching in the whole performance). He has been forced to kill her to save the life of her own little daughter. From this point on the drama - with the rubber deer lying peacefully in the background - unfolds in many strands, showing revenge or mercy, death or life, according to the situation: Sad Face/Happy Face. The power of this performance goes to prove that Belgium is a good breeding ground for the arts (see also Jan Fabre). Founded by Jan Lauwers and Grace Ellen Barkey, the Neecompany has been chart-topping festival hit-lists for the last twenty years. And Jan Lauwers artistic work has been influencing present day stage directors such as Stefan Pucher, René Pollesch or Michael Thalheimer for a long time. It gives drama a new dimension – and opens up hearts at the same time.