Trash Island

A musical to throw away
by Tom van Hasselt

World premiere

Johanna lives on a small, enchanting island in the Pacific that nobody knows about. Undiscovered? How can that be? Maybe it's because this island is made up of one hundred percent garbage.

Johanna's father fled there with her as a baby in the 90s and now she knows nothing but her own personal paradise made of plastic. But now the young environmental start-up Felix arrives and wants to clean up the island. Despite their different views - and not just on the subject of waste - the two become close. Too close for Johanna's dad's taste. But that's not the only problem on Trash Island: international corporations looking for rare earths and an organic cruise ship that happens to be passing by also have an interest in the unusual island with its memorabilia from times when there was no internet and clear enemy stereotypes and garbage was just garbage.

"Trash Island" is a ludicrous musical about family ties, plastic waste and separations of all kinds. Berlin author and composer Tom van Hasselt ("Amor läuft Amok", "Mamma Macchiato") delivers a satire about the madness in the world's oceans without pointing fingers - with hard-hitting gags and shrill truths.