Yeah, yeah, Bielefeld doesn’t exist. And Bielefeld does exist after all. I can promise you: I’m here. And I’ll be here for the next four weeks.
On February 21, we will premiere KASSANDRA by Christa Wolf. With Christina Huckle as Kassandra, directed by Nadja Loschky, who is also the artistic director here, in the adaptation by Yvonne Gebauer and Nadja.
And of course – yes – the music is conceived by me. But not only by me, rather above all by my composition partner Stefan Behrisch.
And in fact, the whole thing is a team effort anyway: Mathis Meyer on cello, improvising through the evening, connecting everything; Jörg Hüttner in the composition team, responsible for synthesis and electronic sound spaces; and the whole thing is held together by our musical director Anne Hinrichsen, who conducts it.
This is not classical drama and not classical music theatre. It is a dramatic monologue with orchestra and choir – exactly the kind of format that is actually not foreseen in the logic of theatre institutions.
When Nadja asked me whether I wanted to do this, I had serious reservations. Not because I didn’t want to – on the contrary. I’ve been dreaming for years of truly bringing drama and music theatre together. But I also know how differently these two fields function, organisationally, structurally, mentally.
And then I came here for the first preliminary meetings and found a theatre that has not been voted Theatre of the Year more than once without reason. I understood very quickly why.
People here actually want to make something. They don’t complain that there is no bound score, only a loose-leaf collection. Everyone knows that this is risky. And everyone is willing to take exactly that risk.
Rehearsals have been running for two weeks. I was in Munich for a few days in between. And from tomorrow on, the final sprint begins: four weeks until the premiere.
I’m curious.
Theatre Bielefeld website with further performance dates:
https://www.buo-bielefeld.de/theater/veranstaltung/kassandra
