"Mankind had to inflict horrible things on itself before the self, the identical, purposive, male character of man was formed, and something of that still recurs in every childhood." (Adorno/Horkheimer in the "Odyssey" chapter of "Dialectic of Enlightenment"/"Dialektik der Aufklärung") Even in its day and age Homer’s "Odyssey" was testimony to a deep societal crisis and an attempt to overcome the same by violently restoring the "good old days". In "ODYSSEY: Dead Men Die" this propaganda is mercilessly put on trial. A dysfunctional family clashes during a screening of the newest Odyssey-blockbuster: the frustrated cinema landlady, her angry son and the no longer relevant Odysseus-actor, who abandoned his family years ago. They all genuinely yearn for a better world, suffer from the social conditions and seek their salvation in seemingly overcoming these; until the servants, blinded by rage, begin to revolt… "ODYSSEY: Dead Men Die" is a spectacular music theater farce, a cinematic stop-and-go cruise, an apocalyptic musical and theatrical firework of styles, a jarring requiem for the patriarchal order, in which the greatest tragedy of our era - that all resistance preserves that which it is directed against - is only bearable as grotesque.
Cinema Landlady: Gina May Walter (soprano)
Cineast: Georg A. Bochow(countertenor)
Actor: Martin Gerke (baritone)
Dead Man: David Eggert (cello)
Maids(Sirens): Nina Guo(soprano) and Sophie Catherin (mezzosoprano)
Maids: Evi Filippou (percussion), Shin-Joo Morgantini (flute), Alba Gentili-Tedeschi (keyboards), Jone Bolibar Nunez (clarinet), Sara Breznikar (horn), Louis Bona (viola), Benedikt Bindewald (viola), Giovanni Zaniol (electronics), Matthias Koole (guitar)
COMPOSITION, LIBRETTO: Evan Gardner
STAGING, LIBRETTO: Michael Höppner
STAGE DESIGN: Martin Miotk
COSTUME DESIGN: Hanna Rode
FILM: Christian Striboll
MUSICAL DIRECTORS: Shin-Joo Morgantini, Louis Bona
SOUND DESIGN: Giovanni Zaniol
LIGHT DESIGN: Fabian Eichner
MAKE-UP: Martin Rink
PRODUCTION MANAGEMENT: Christine Elbel
PUBLIC RELATIONS: Dominique Schweizer
STAGE DIRECTOR ASSISTANT: Amina Nouns
SCENOGRAPHIC ASSISTANT: Johanna Schraut
STAGE CONSTRUCTION: Jörg Fischer
SOUND: Tilman Agüeras
COPYIST: Marco Mazzai
MUSICAL DRAMATURGY: Giulia Fornasier
GRAPHICS: Simon Pilati, Karolina Skomra
World premiere on January 30th 2020 at Berlin Delphi Theatre