Burt Turrido
an opera
A man lost and drowning at sea is rescued by a mysterious and beautiful woman, possibly a phantom or a mermaid, who escorts him to the last remaining piece of land left on earth. Despoiled of vegetation and full of the ghosts of its former inhabitants, the island (formerly known as Greenland) is ruled by a despotic king and queen, who name their newly discovered castaway Burt Turrido, and make him their slave, and –when he proves too inept at that – their prisoner. But this is an opera, and the drama doesn’t stop there – there’s yet to come still a cataclysmic storm, an immaculate pregnancy, a murder, a love triangle, a mock execution, a birth, an alien invasion and kidnapping, and – we promise you it’s not over until someone finally gets impaled on a narwhal tusk.
A Production by Künstlerhaus Mousonturm, Schauspiel Frankfurt and Nature Theater of Oklahoma.
Coproduced by Arctic Arts Festival (Norway), Athens & Epidaurus Festival (Greece), Espoo City Theatre (Finland), HAU Hebbel Am Ufer (Germany), Kampnagel (Germany), Noorderzon Festival of Performing Arts & Society (Netherlands), Wiener Festwochen (Austria), Züricher Theater Spektakel (Switzerland).
Distribution: Something Great
A Work Commissioned by the festival Frankfurter Positionen 2021, an initiative of the BHF-Bank Foundation. Funded by the German Federal Cultural Foundation and by the Adolf und Luisa Haeuser-Stiftung für Kunst und Kulturpflege as part of the project series UNLIMITED II promoting exemplary positions in the contemporary performing arts.
Text and Direction Pavol Liska and Kelly Copper
Music Robert M. Johanson
Featuring Gabel Eiben, Anne Gridley, Robert M. Johanson, Bence Mezei, Kadence Neill
Set and Lighting Design Luka Curk
Costume Design Anna Sünkel
Dramaturg Künstlerhaus Mousonturm Marcus Dross
Dramaturg Schauspiel Frankfurt Katja Herlemann
Producer/Production Manager Künstlerhaus Mousonturm Anne Kleiner
Set Design Assistant to Luka Curk Nastja Miheljak
Set Design Assistant Schauspiel Frankfurt Hanna Marlene Schnell
Upcoming Performances
August 20-22, 2021 (premiere)- Noorderzon Festival of Performing Arts & Society (Netherlands)
August 26-27, 29-30, 2021 - Wiener Festwochen (Austria)
September 3-5, 2021 - Züricher Theater Spektakel (Switzerland)
June 2022, Athens & Epidaurus Festival, Athens, Greece
June 2022, Acrtic Arts Festival, Harstad, Norway
October 2022, Bockenheimer Depot, Frankfurt, Germany
October 2022, Kampnagel, Hamburg, Germany
November 2022, Hebbel am Ufer, Berlin, Germany
November 2022, Espoo City Theatre, Espoo, Finland
