MEDIATHEK

This work was awarded the first prize of the Berliner Opernpreis 2018 competition. After a very successful first production at the Deutsche Oper Berlin’s Tischlerei, in which our creative team first met, we wanted to use this second opportunity to focus on subjects we have at heart: feminism, performativity, gender roles, the role of the human and its relationship with artificial intelligence and consciousness. As young music theatre makers, we are constantly in search of new forms and topics which we find relevant and contemporary. Our aim was to reflect on and rethink opera heritage and the female roles which have defined this genre. We created a fictional future through which, with the recontextualization of classics such as Mozart, Puccini, and Berg, we critically approach our present tradition and society. We witness a performing robot gain consciousness through the performance of three canonical, pre-programmed heroines. We see her constant struggle in her subservience to her programming, in a set which displays objects of a seemingly pleasant society. As we slowly proceed in the story and see the various roles of the robot, we find ourselves in the midst of a revolution against a strict ideological system. Through a lean and carefully curated quartet(vln, vlc, acc, synth), the music is as multi-layered as our heroine, evoking a lush orchestra, alarming error messages, and through an emotional soundscape, support our main characters slowly unfolding ‘awakening’.