Musical theatre by Arash Safaian (Music) and Bernhard Glocksin (Book)
Neuköllner Oper Berlin and Ensemble Adapter
World Premiere June 2, until July 8, 2017
June 2, 1967. An evening in Berlin. The city in uproar. A couple amidst the turmoil. He’s carrying a banner under his arm, she’s carrying a child in her belly. He wants to stay just a little while longer. She goes home and waits for her husband all night. But while Christa Ohnesorg is waiting, her home becomes the kaleidoscope of an entire era. Stars and anonymous persons from the limbo of Zeitgeist and shed surreal light on her fate and the future of the whole country.
The gunshot killing Benno Ohneborg that night changes everything. It is the initial spark for a protesting, radicalising, and divisive movement seizing all of West Germany. Some begin with a “the long march through the institutions,” others create the Red Army Faction. This gunshot permeates thousands of heads.
But where are we today, as “children” of the 1968s? And where would our society stand without the wake up call of an entire generation? Did Benno Ohnesorg have to die in order for this stagnated country to restore? Was the price too high? With the musical theatre THE GUNSHOT3-2-1967, a later-born generation creates a work of reflection, processing not only the social dimensions of these events and their meaningful impact, but evaluating new formats of music in theatre: at and with the Neuköllner Oper — which itself stems from the spirit of resistance of the 1968s movement — collaborating with Ensemble Adapter, one of the leading contemporary music groups. Arash Safaian is a German-Iranian composer. He writes powerful scores, connecting the Zeitgeist of the 1968s with our present lives. Created with and performed by the soloist ensemble Adapter, with the addition of more instruments. The recording of Arash Safaian’s composition »ÜberBach« was featured in the classical music charts and is being performed all over Europe. Combining drama and musical theatre, the book was written by Bernhard Glocksin, who has previously written librettos for composers Gerhard Schedl, Raffael Raina, Simon Stockhausen, Sinem Altan et al.. Directed by Fabian Gerhardt, who in 2016 already staged the world premiere of Affe and Iris. After Iris and Affe, internationally renowned video artist Vincent Stefan returns to the Neuköllner Oper for another world premiere. Last but not least: designer Lena Schmid und dramaturge Lennart Naujoks celebrate their debut at the Neuköllner Oper with The Gunshot 2.6.1967.
Stage direction and Text Arrangement by Fabian Gerhardt | Musical Direction by Ensemble Adapter / Matthias Engler | Dramaturgy by Lennart Naujoks | Set and Costume Design by Lena Schmid | Video Art by Vincent Stefan
With Martin Gerke, Pauline Jacob, Josephine Lange, Ursula Renneke, Alexander Tschernek, as well as Kamil Ahmad and Jonas Heinrich
funded by presented by
