Siblings (Ritter, Dene, Voss). 30th anniversary

Voss, a patient at a mental hospital, travels to his family home inhabited by his sisters, who are allowed to play at being actresses because they are shareholders in a theatre. His visit exposes a family hell, a pathetic inability to make contact. Like prisoners in a cell, the protagonists pace about the room hung with portraits, and the impression of being in a cage is increased by the pole tied with steel wire at the front of the stage.
There are recurring motifs often found in Bernhard’s prose and dramas—madness, a ruthless, deranged striving for a goal, stopping at nothing to contend with the world, creative incapacity, and, ultimately, spiritual infirmity.