The Casebook of Rudolf H-----

THE CASEBOOK OF RUDOLF H----- is a dreamlike investigation into one of the great scandals of 19th Century Europe: the double-suicide of Crown Prince Rudolf of Austria-Hungary and his teenage mistress Mary Vetsera in 1889 Vienna. It is an investigation undertaken by a young, poor, un-hirable neurologist who has only recently kicked his cocaine habit, named Sigmund Freud. In a few years Freud will transform how we view the inner lives of people – especially the (erotic) tensions within the family itself, but now he is wrestling with his, and Rudolf’s, demons – to figure out what went so horribly wrong. The tone of the piece is mysterious, sexual, fluid, decadent – a world where identity is not fixed and Freud can associate so deeply with Rudolf that sometimes he imagines Rudolf’s scenes as his own...

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Excerpt from THE CASEBOOK OF RUDOLF H-----

Sigmund Freud, 30 years old, at his desk, addresses the audience:

FREUD

It started with an accident in September. The Crown Prince went hunting with his Father and - by mistake - shot too close over the Emperor’s head. The Emperor heard the bullet singing past him – his ear is grazed, though he does not bleed. The Crown Prince immediately goes pale. His wife, his mother come running – no one knows what has happened. There is a confrontation:

RUDOLF

I didn’t mean to, I – I’m sorry Father.

FRANZ JOSEF

(Silence, then) It will have been forgiven.

FREUD

(Teasing words) “It will have been forgiven”... From then on Rudolf carries the gun at all times. He carries the case - the gun inside, waiting, gestating... to a very specific end. I, of course, didn’t know about this incident until much later, when I began to write about the Prince.

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Winner! The National Music Theatre Network/BroadwayUSA 2003 Search for New Musicals

Winner! International Music Theatre Festival - back from its UK debut in Cardiff, Wales!

Winner! Named Best-of-Fest at the Midtown International Theatre Festival!

Reviews from the Midtown Int'l Theatre Festival, July '02 NYC: "Elegant... beautiful... heartbreaking" Louis Lopardi, Artzine. "The Zellnik brothers have really pulled it off! A compelling tale...a promising new musical!" Irene Backalenick, Backstage. "A passion-filled musical... extremely well-crafted, intelligent, sophisticated, melodic. Worth going to see for anyone who wishes to see promising works of new composers" Seth Bisen-Hersh, NYtheatre.com.