MEDIATHEK

"Mauerschau" is a new opera by Hauke Berheide and Amy Stebbins that takes the Penthesilea myth as a starting point for an investigation of war and its public mediation. Over the course of 12 "pictures", the opera presents the multiple, contradictory versions of this ancient story about the Amazon queen and her beloved foe Achilles, staging the epistemological crisis Penthesilea faces as she seeks to verify the truth of her own actions on the battlefield. Did she kill Achilles? Or did he kill her? How can she ever know? How can we?
 
The title "Mauerschau" refers to "teichoscopia," the theatrical device introduced by the Greeks, whereby an actor looks out over the audience and describes what he or she sees "over there". In Berheide and Stebbins' opera, this ancient mode of staging scenes of war and violence becomes a gateway for taking on the ethical dilemma of drone warfare, and what, since the opera's premiere, has come to be known as "fake news".
 
To guide the audience in its reflections, Berheide and Stebbins introduce the role of a messenger, performed by the legendary German actress Hildegard Schmahl. Speaking texts by thinkers such as Heinrich von Kleist, Friedrich Nietzsche, and Donald Rumsfeld, she guides us through Penthesilea's world of hazy night vision scenes, and conflicting war reports before, believing to have enough of an overview, she intervenes.
 
"Mauerschau" was awarded the 2016 Festspielpreis of the Opernfestspiele München.