An homage by Marc Rosich and Marc Sambola
Again from 12th December. Through 19th April 2018
Barcelona, you gorgeous and rebellious city, what has happened to you and your stars? At a conference for urban history in Berlin, a speaker remembers the “wild” years in the 1970s, when Spain dared to free itself from the rigidity of Franco’s dictatorship, the counterculture whose illustrious star Ocaña, the artist, rebel and drag queen: Ocaña on Las Ramblas in Barcelona, Ocaña in front of the Brandenburg Gate when the Berlinale presented a film about him…his extravagant entrances, his provocative performances until his bizarre death in the flames of a self-designed dress. And we experience his music: the coplas, that passionate Spanish form of Schlager music, which deals with big feelings in the tight corset of everyday life and so much more.
Upon the invitation of Neuköllner Oper, the prize-winning Catalonia writer and director Marc Rosich and his team carry us off for an evening into the world and times of a rebel who numbers amongst the greatest pioneers of a self-determined, queer movement in Europe.
Accompanied by two guitarists, Denis Fischer and Victor Petitjean transform themselves into Ocaña, his friend Nazario and others, intoning the song of an open, tolerant and democratic Barcelona, Spain and Europe that today, after years of blood, instability and despair, stands so dramatically at a crossroads.
Marc Rosich is present as a writer and director on all o the major stages in Barcelona, is the artistic director of Òpera de Butxaca i Nova Creació and is active internationally with Calixto Bieto and Carlus Padrissa /La Fura dels Baus, amongst others. He wrote Bazaar Cassandra for the Neuköllner Oper.
Marc Sambola is an internationally active composer in the field of musical/theater and film and, alongside the arrangements of the loveliest coplas, also write his own compositions for Ocaña.
The stage designer and video artist Eugenio Schwarzer is just as much an international success, for example, in Brussels and London for Sidi Larbi Cherkaoui, amongst others. Following the guest performance 4Carmen, costume designer Joana Marti is presenting her work here for the second time.
Already cult for a whole lot of people: when Denis Fischer sings and embodies Leonard Cohen, Harald Junhke or the immortal stars of Club 27. Or when he presents his new and original songs. For the Neuköllner Oper, he will transform himself into the fascinating figure of the exceptional artist Ocaña. His friend Nazario is played by the actor and singer Victor Petitjean who performed at the Neuköllner Oper in Stella – the blond ghost of Kurfürstendamm (again from October 4, 2018).
Book/Stage Direction: Marc Rosich | Composition and Arrangements: Marc Sambola | Stage Design/Video: Eugenio Swarcer | Costumes: Joana Marti | Choreography: Julieta Figueroa
Featuring: Denis Fischer, Victor Petitjean and Takashi Peterson / Jerzy Chwastyk (guitars)
Ocaña, Queen of the Ramblas was produced as part of the cooperation between Neuköllner Oper and Òpera de Butxaca i Noves Creacions – Barcelona, kindly supported by Ajuntament Barcelona.
presented by 