Mitridate - program

What if, by means of his poison intake, our Mitridate
were to live in a parallel world or in an illusion? What
if he were to delude himself into being celebrated and
loved while being isolated and heavily burdened with
guilt and grief? What if we were to throw all the characters
who surround him – dead or alive – into his
surreal and magic kingdom? What if the waves of a
mythical Black Sea – mysterious power of fate – were
to shape and reshape the configuration of the play?
Our staging of Mitridate is based on contemporary
dance intertwined with music, visual arts, space and
light design. We are interested in exploring non-verbal
performative narratives out of visual and choreographic
metaphors. These metaphors resonate with
Mozart’s music and are open to interpretation.
Often, in musical theater, the words tell the story,
and the visuals support it. We have decided to
proceed the other way around: the visuals and the
choreography will tell the story, and the lyrics will
support or add to it in free association.
We are guided by the idea of »Gesamtkunstwerk«
taken to a contemporary level: by bringing different
art forms together we wish to create magical
worlds that do not exist in reality, and the myth of
Mitridate opens many doors there. The centerpiece
of our stage design is an extensive work of
art by Alexander Polzin, a multifaceted metaphor
and a visual, physical and dramatic element: it is
a sculpture, a space, a landscape, a playground, a
shelter, an exposer, a source of light – and even a
seemingly animated creature. Together with the
dancers, it forms a unit, or to put it differently: the
dancers are an organic part of the stage design and
bring it to life. They make the space itself become a
protagonist with its own history, its own emotions,
own character and evolvement. And they unfold a
multitude of images as well as physical and intimate
interactions with the singers.
Let these images speak!
Ralf Pleger, director
Dansare, Sarah Aristidou