Barth (dpa/mv) - The open-air theater season starts this Saturday after a long Corona break with the Viking play "The Witch of Haithabu" in Barth (West Pomerania-Rügen). The 94-year-old actress Helga Wienhöfer plays a seer, as the spokeswoman for the Vorpommersche Landesbühne Anklam, Martina Krüger, said on Tuesday.
The new piece continues the Viking series started in 2019. The Jarl Aris, the actual leader of the group in Haithabu, leaves the official business to a witch and goes to Barth to learn how to build boats more perfectly. But the witch wants to bring him back so that the balance of power among the warlike tribe can be restored. Ari's young partner Freya also gets involved.
The play with 15 actors will be directed for the first time by Rieke Clasen, the new artistic director of the Barther Boddenbühne. Along with Wolgast, Zinnowitz and Heringsdorf, the Sommertheater Barth is the fourth summer venue of the theater makers from Anklam. The game has been played in Barth since 1999, usually on Mondays and Fridays, this time until August 26th. In the past, around 4000 visitors came each season. Haithabu is a place in Schleswig-Holstein where an archaeological museum commemorates one of the most important trading posts of the seafaring people.
