We immerse ourselves in a strange and incomparable world. Six people, the call of a falcon and the dreamlike story of three couples who fight resolutely and courageously for their idea of happiness begins. For the right to make their own decisions and shape their own lives – with or without their own children.
Following the successes of WOLFSKINDER and GIOVANNI. EINE PASSION, Ulrike Schwab and team shed light on the promise of happiness of motherhood and a healthy nuclear family, which Richard Strauss and Hugo von Hofmannsthal stage with a fairytale-like richness of sound and exquisitely poetic language. At its core, however, it is not about a fairy tale, but about the (currently highly politically instrumentalised) question: Who owns my body and who decides how I want to live? Schwab’s production creates an impressive and debatable breach in the powerful and suggestive jungle of motifs, themes and music. The singers struggle so closely and passionately with their life plan that they surprise us at the end with a thoroughly contemporary vision of relationships. In Tobias Schwencke’s adaptation, the large-scale original composition is given an otherwise unheard-of depth – like a musical parcours that combines symphonic power with delicate chamber music and touching solos.
The original FRAU OHNE SCHATTEN is without doubt one of the most complex works by the successful Strauss/Hofmannsthal team. Our version opens up an experience that is almost impossible in conventional opera – that of the incredibly close and touching intimacy of all the characters. In that very ‘cave of the falcon’, which hardly exists at state operas.
WITH
Hrund Ósk Árnadóttir, Joa Helgesson, Franziska Junge, Catrin
Kirchner, David Ristau, Leon de la Guardia and the musicians
Valentin Butt, Horia Dumitrache, Martin Knoerzer, Till Kuenkler,
Luiza Labouriau, Christoph Lindner, Johannes Ragg, Nikolaus Schlierf, Tobias Schwencke, Simon Strasser
ARRANGEMENT Tobias Schwencke MUSICAL DIRECTION & CORREPETITION Tobias Schwencke, Markus Syperek STAGE DIRECTION Ulrike Schwab STAGE & COSTUMES Pia Dederichs, Marina Stefan DRAMATURG Marion Meyer PRODUCTION MANAGER/ASSISTANT TO THE STAGE DIRECTOR Karoline Gable
Funded by
Funded by
Duration: approximately 100 minutes, no intermission.
Note about accessibility of the auditorium:
Seating in this production does not have a backrest.
With German and English subtitles for your smartphone (OPERA ACCESS)