Ulysses is called to wage war for a cause that does not concern him. Penelope waits 20 years for his return – or news of his death. It’s an existence in permanent limbo. Her previous life is over and she cannot start a new one as long as the whereabouts of her husband remain unclear. In vain her suitors importune her; in vain her son, Telemachus, dreams of a father he has never met.
When Ulysses returns home suddenly, nothing is as before. His son does not recognise him; his adversaries dismiss him as a beggar; even his wife thinks he is an imposter. Having finally escaped the murderous war, Ulysses must commit murder once more, if he is to regain control over his home. Conforming to a typical carnival scenario of an inverted world, imposters and domestics behave as if they were master, who in turn, is cast out as an undesirable. »Outside time races by«, says the libretto; in the house of Penelope, however, time has stopped – a »laboratory situation« which cannot last. And yet it also promises an entirely unexpected kind of idyllic happiness. Its threatened termination is perhaps the real catastrophe for those encapsulated in it.
When Ulysses returns home suddenly, nothing is as before. His son does not recognise him; his adversaries dismiss him as a beggar; even his wife thinks he is an imposter. Having finally escaped the murderous war, Ulysses must commit murder once more, if he is to regain control over his home. Conforming to a typical carnival scenario of an inverted world, imposters and domestics behave as if they were master, who in turn, is cast out as an undesirable. »Outside time races by«, says the libretto; in the house of Penelope, however, time has stopped – a »laboratory situation« which cannot last. And yet it also promises an entirely unexpected kind of idyllic happiness. Its threatened termination is perhaps the real catastrophe for those encapsulated in it.
Cast and Creative Team for The Return of Ulysses at Schaubühne
Autor
Claudio Monteverdi
Regie
David Marton
Musikalische Leitung
David Marton
Kalle Kalima
Michael Wilhelmi
Bühne und Kostüme
Alissa Kolbusch
Dramaturgie
Florian Borchmeyer
Licht
Erich Schneider
Mit
Thorbjörn Björnsson
Niels Bormann
Jule Böwe
Kai Brückner
Franz Hartwig
Kalle Kalima
Theresa Kronthaler
Matthias Matschke
Nurit Stark
Ernst Stötzner
Michael Wilhelmi
Gitarre
Kalle Kalima
Kai Brückner
Violine
Nurit Stark
Piano
Michael Wilhelmi
Claudio Monteverdi
Regie
David Marton
Musikalische Leitung
David Marton
Kalle Kalima
Michael Wilhelmi
Bühne und Kostüme
Alissa Kolbusch
Dramaturgie
Florian Borchmeyer
Licht
Erich Schneider
Mit
Thorbjörn Björnsson
Niels Bormann
Jule Böwe
Kai Brückner
Franz Hartwig
Kalle Kalima
Theresa Kronthaler
Matthias Matschke
Nurit Stark
Ernst Stötzner
Michael Wilhelmi
Gitarre
Kalle Kalima
Kai Brückner
Violine
Nurit Stark
Piano
Michael Wilhelmi
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