In a macabre fairytale, Ulrike Quade and Romain Bischoff take a close look at the engineered human. Their inspiration is Oscar Wilde’s novel ‘The Picture of Dorian Gray’.
After a diabolical experiment, Dorian Gray becomes immortal by changing place with his portrait. As the years go by he remains a perfect, young god, while his image on the painting deteriorates. What initially appears to be a hedonistic celebration, ends up a nightmare.
In this performance on the borders between opera, visual theatre and technology, Dorian Gray is no nineteenth-century dandy. Together with librettist Marcel Roijaards and composer Leonard Evers, Quade and Bischoff recreate him as a contemporary perfectionist: immaculate and immortal thanks to modern technology. After this new evolutionary step, the question we’re left with is this: What humanity remains after we are freed from decay and death is no longer inevitable?
You use a glass mirror to see your face; you use works of art to see your soul. — George Bernard Shaw
Memento mori, memento vivere: Remind yourself that you will die, don’t forget to live.
Credits:
Concept: Ulrike Quade en Romain Bischoff
Stage direction: Ulrike Quade
Performers: Job Hubatka, Maarten Vinkenoog, André Lourenço en Kadri Tegelmann
Musical dramaturgy: Romain Bischoff
Libretto: Marcel Roijaards
Composition: Leonard Evers en Akim Moiseenkov
Creative coding / visuals: Robert Liebner
Puppet construction: Matt Jackson
Assistant puppet construction: Pluck Venema
Costume design: Marlou Breuls
Light design and set design: Floriaan Ganzevoort
Dramaturgy: Thomas Lamers
Assistant director: Zarah Bracht
Puppeteering coach: Suze van Miltenburg
Photography: Casper Koster