Sleepless

"Out of necessity, you may do anything, he says. Maybe you're right, she says." Bjørgvin. It is cold. It's raining. Asle and heavily pregnant Alida wander around the Norwegian coastal town. Everywhere the young couple is turned away. People like them are not wanted here. Every pause means drifting into an unreal state of twilight. Driven by desperation, they gain access to a strange house. A series of mysterious encounters, in which the past comes to life, proves to be a fateful race against time. Based on the story of the same name by the Norwegian author Jon Fosse, the Hungarian composer and conductor Peter Eötvös, who is one of the most influential figures in the music of our time, composed the commissioned work "Sleepless". In it, he and librettist Mari Mezei interweave snapshots of the existential search for belonging, lawbreaking as a reaction to human indifference, and the struggle with one's own lostness into a music-theatrical-suggestive stream of consciousness. Hungarian film, acting and opera director Kornél Mundruczó, known for his film realist works in which he often addresses contemporary social issues, makes his debut at the Staatsoper Unter den Linden with the production of the world premiere.