PÖBELARIEN

One room. One intoxication. One innkeeper.

Is this still opera – or already an infestation? Opera is being invaded. Voices distort. Roles slip. Figures break apart. Who is telling the story? Who is singing? Who is shining? And for whom? Dido does not die. Papageno catches nothing. Carmen does not come. Elisabeth does not wait.

In PÖBELARIEN, a parasitic collective gets to work. It crawls into costumes, gnaws at arias, burrows through the canon of Western opera. It takes what feels good. The rest is discarded. Together with die schlangenknaben, the audience becomes a swarm: made up, costumed, loud, uninvited. A cell emerges – the score begins. It spreads: into streets and squares. It settles in. Each episode infects a new work. Each invasion transforms the body.

#1 DIDO DOES NOT DIE
(after Dido and Aeneas)

#2 CARMEN DOES NOT COME
(after Carmen)

#3 PAPAGENO CATCHES NOTHING
(after The Magic Flute)

#4 ELISABETH DOES NOT WAIT
(after Tannhäuser)

 WITH die schlangenknaben (Carla Wierer, Jakob*, Viola Schmitzer)  

PRODUCTION MANAGEMENT Joni Barnard