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Heroes on the Way to Nirvana
“CIVIL wars” by Robert Wilson and Philip Glass premiered in Freiburg
(...) After Kosovo, Afghanistan, Iraq and the Sudan, ongoing civil war with everyone against everyone. Nevertheless, the theme of war is far from exhausted: a floor installation in Freiburg’s “Alte Stadthalle” on the misery of the terrain with mines everywhere draws attention to the underground horror. In the piece, however, the theme is more elevated, heroes such as Hercules, Lincoln, his wife, Garibaldi and even Confederate General Lee are conjured, brought into mythical contact with mother earth, German, Italian and Latin texts are sung, sublimely mystical murmuring is evoked, a cosmic call for peace instead of historical-political reality or even just psychological intensification: late epic music theatre.
This has its suggestion entirely in the polyphonic sound of video projections (starry skies, historical photographs), solo and choir vocal pieces, sophisticated representations, acrobatics and the mobility of the audience platforms which are pushed round. Only the orchestra is stationary. The open architecture of the hall is more appropriate for this dramaturgy than the boxes of the municipal theatre. This, of course, poses the main question as to the compatibility with Wilson’s theatre, at least as to the focus on the central stage.
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