Overview

• Kirill Serebrennikow directed the three-hour world premiere of Der Schneesturm at Salzburg’s Perner-Insel stage as a partnership with the Düsseldorfer Schauspielhaus.
• The production stages a relentless artificial snowstorm using overstage projections, mobile cameras, cosmonaut helmets and wind machines to create surreal, Kafka-like tableaux.
• August Diehl and Filipp Avdeev deliver contrasting lead performances as Dr. Garin and his coachman Perkhusha, blending humor with existential tension.
• Composer Alexander Manotskov weaves sung excerpts from Schubert and Bach’s Crucifixus into an original score that heightens the play’s dreamlike atmosphere.
• The premiere ended in enthusiastic applause; some critics observed that its three-hour runtime and episodic pacing challenged viewer engagement.