Wolf On The Ringstrasse
April 19 – April 27, 2019
Pumphouse Theatres
2140 Pumphouse Ave SW, Calgary, AB
“To demand that in every story there always be forgiveness, and ultimately exaltation, is essentially to demand that someone fill the role of redeemer, and in so doing forfeit for herself the chance to be hero.”
– Michaela Jeffery, Wolf On The Ringstrasse
In Austria, 1895, the caustic composer Hugo Wolf pens his famous opera, Der Corregidor. It is a new dawn. The fin du siècle is breaking over Europe with the chilly clarity of a wet spring morning. Plagued by the spectre of his adolescent rivalry with school fellow Gustav Mahler, and manically consumed by a need to generate a work equal to those of the dead master Wagner, Wolf retreats, penniless and wretched, to the mountains and the childhood home of the wife of his most devoted patron, Herr Heinrich Köchert.
But Melanie Köchert has no time for ghosts. She would rather bury the remnants of the relationship she’d kindled so long ago with Hugo Wolf – scorch the earth – than permit that life to engulf her again.
Review
Haysom’s Wolf is a daunting presence so it is to Val Duncan’s inestimable credit that her Melanie is able to hold her own against him. There is a scene where Melanie finally lashes out at Wolf, topping even his fury only to collapse into his arms, which is shattering in its intensity.
READ THE FULL REVIEW HERE
FOUR STARS
– Louis Hobson, Columnist for the Calgary Herald
Standing ovation for 2019 theatre
…a bold, powerful script that director Alexandra Prichard and a talented cast brought to life with shattering intensity.
READ THE FULL ARTICLE HERE
– Louis Hobson, Columnist for the Calgary Herald
Playwright

Michaela Jeffery
Playwright’s Notes
Director

Alexandra Prichard