Audiences and the media were unanimous at the production launch of ‘OPER OTZE AXT’ in Darmstadt: ‘This is where the punk really goes off’, and the play has what it takes to ‘attract audiences to musical theatre who otherwise have little to do with it’. And now it’s time: Clear the stage for the NRW premiere of ‘OPER OTZE AXT’ on 13 April at the Musiktheater im Revier in Gelsenkirchen (MiR). Excited anticipation for the premiere at the MiR and the two further performances on 19 and 26 April.
Following this, ‘OPER OTZE AXT’ will be changed and developed further at Theater Bremen (premiere: 4 July).
‘OPER OTZE AXT’ is inspired by the story of the GDR punk band “Schleimkeim” and its singer and guitarist Dieter ‘Otze’ Ehrlich. In a musically exciting experiment in which opera and punk are combined through sound design, the young collective ‘Dritte Degeneration Ost’ explores the question of how to break up the system, the state and the opera. Otze experiences the increasingly disintegrating GDR as a resistant protagonist and East punk antihero, but finds no redemption in the social liberation of the fall of the Wall and the post-reunification period, only further invisible walls. The development of the play scrutinises our image and understanding of the post-reunification period and searches for new approaches to explain the political rifts that are occurring in ever more drastic ways in the present day. After more than thirty years of reunification, the seams between East and West are opening up again and calling into question the freedom we have achieved together.
The artists’ collective ‘Dritte Degeneration Ost’ has come together for the first time for a project in this constellation and under this name, sharing artistic responsibility for the production. The team is focussing on the idea of developing a collective piece on an equal footing. Almost all of the participants come from the ‘new federal states’. They combine their project with the reappraisal of personal experiences and thus create a special perspective on the German-German problem against the backdrop of the reunification years. The question of the nature of freedom is explored in a provocative way, beyond the context of the play, and provides an intelligent thematic contribution to pressing contemporary issues in the context of musical theatre.
