In the Penal Colony (2000) Chamber opera based on the short story "In the Penal Colony" by Franz Kafka
Daniel Grossmann, musical director
Martin Valdés-Stauber, scenic design Isabel Barnes, costumes Vitor Bispo, Officer Liam Bonthrone, visitor Carolina de la Maza, dance
The composer Philip Glass is known for the magnetic effect of his music; the JCOM brings his dark chamber opera In the Penal Colony to the stage of the Munich Kammerspiele with two young singers from the opera studio of the Bavarian State Opera .
JEWISH "What do I have in common with Jews? I have hardly anything in common with myself." - Franz Kafka is one of the world's most famous Jewish artists, but his relationship with Judaism was complicated throughout his life. To mark the 100th anniversary of his death, the JCOM is bringing Philip Glass' chamber opera based on Kafka's famous story In the Penal Colony to the stage, which is about a debate about a new method of execution in which the unsuspecting convicts are made to experience their crime first hand until they die.
TODAY In the Penal Colony was written in 1914 as a reaction to a world in which violence and crimes against humanity had become frighteningly commonplace - a topic that is as relevant today as it was then. Glass's musical setting from 2000 underlines the timelessness of the play about the limits of justice and human possibility.
FOR ALL The production by director Martin Valdés-Stauber leaves plenty of space for the actors and the text: in an almost empty room, he translates Philip Glass's 'Minimal Music' into exemplary movements and gestures. The audience's imagination is called upon.
