Raising the voice
Olga Benario believes she can make a difference. In 1925, she leaves her Munich home and moves to “red Neukölln.” She becomes head of propaganda for the Communist Youth Movement, becomes a Comintern agent in the Soviet Union, and eventually a bodyguard for Luiz Carlos Prestes, the leader of the Brazilian Revolution.
Stifling the voice
The uprising is bloodily put down. In 1936, the pregnant Olga is handed over to the Gestapo. In 1942 she is murdered. She is able to give a song to her daughter Anita, born in Nazi custody, when they separate:
Comes a bird flown
Sits down on my foot
Has a note in its beak
A greeting from her mother
Dear bird, fly on
Take my greeting with you
a kiss
For I cannot go with you
accompany you
Cause I must stay here
Finding a voice
The artistic team around director Kathrin Herm and composer Dariya Maminova develops a multi-voiced narrative about this extraordinary woman. Based on the very personal and at the same time censored letters that Olga Benario and Luiz Carlos Prestes wrote to each other in prison and on the Gestapo file of Benario on the one hand, as well as interviews with people for whom Olga Benario still has a meaning today on the other hand, the four performers and musicians cast a variety of spotlights on Benario’s life and at the same time circle the power and pitfalls of heroine stories. Thus, between contemporary composition, new songs and workers’ songs, a musical theater is created that bridges 100 years.
World premiere December 14, 2022.
Through January 22, 2023.
DIRECTOR Kathrin Herm MUSICAL DIRECTOR Dariya Maminova DRAMATURGY Änne-Marthe Kühn DESIGN Robert Kraatz VIDEO Tin Wilke
WITH Fidan Aghayeva-Edler, Christian Clauß, Rita Feldmeier, Marina Frenk
We recommend a visit to the exhibition OLGA BENARIO – Approaches To A Revolutionary in the GALERIE OLGA BENARIO (Richardstraße 104):
Open on on show nights 1 hour prior to the show and on request.
With the support of Galerie Olga Benario