Hofmannsthal’s ‘Jedermann’ directed by Reinhardt

Abstract

With Hugo von Hofmannsthal’s adaptation of the English morality play Everyman, directed by Max Reinhardt, the Salzburg Festival, of which the show would eventually be the centerpiece, was inaugurated on August 1920. As a matter of fact, the Austrian writer and director had been working on Jedermann for some time (since 1903), and before arriving in the city of Mozart the show had already been staged several times, both in Germany and Austria. The article reconstructs the genesis of the staging, from the controversial reception of the first performances, to the triumph of Salzburg; and showing how the show represents, more than is commonly believed, the embodiment of Reinhardt’s ‘creed’, not just artistic.