The Death Ship | A chamber opera by sirene Opera Theater

Money and law go hand in hand in B. Traven’s Ship of the Dead. Without money, the law offers no protection, and without the law’s protection, you are stripped of your rights and made subject to the power of money. Gale, the hero of Ship of the Dead, finds himself unexpectedly among those without any rights after losing his papers. Unable to remain on land without papers or a residence permit, the forms of recognition granted by the international community, his only option is to flee to the sea. However, even there, he must sign onto the “ships of the dead”—floating hells like the Yorikke, which smuggle weapons across the lawless expanses of the world’s oceans, or like the Lucona and the Empress of Madagascar in the novel, serve only to further insurance fraud in being designed to sink. (Text: sirene Operntheater)

Gernot Heinrich, Gale Romana Amerling, Fate Johann Leutgeb, Stanislaw Bernhard Landauer, Countertenor Richard Klein, Tenor Clemens Kölbl, Baritone Horst Lamnek

ensemble sirene

Flutes Olivera Milovanovic | Oboe and English horn Stefan Peindl | Clarinets Thomas Schön | Bassoons Angelika Riedl | Trumpets Raphael Trimmel, Luis Abicht | Horns Hermann Ebner, Erwin Schwengerer | Trombones Nikolaus Singhania, Anton Harald Zechner | Tuba Friedrich Gindlhumer | Guitars Martin Siewert | Viola Martina Reiter | Cello Irene Frank | Percussion Max Calanducci

Musical direction Jury Everhartz | Direction Kristine Tornquist | Stage Mirjam Mercedes Salzer | Video Max Kaufmann, Mirjam Mercedes Salzer | Costumes Nora Scheidl | Lighting and technology Edgar Aichinger | Makeup Isabella Gajcic | Set design Julius Lankes | Props Michael Liszt, Vesna Tusek, Anna Dreo | Video editing and animation Gratis G. Strumpf | Internship and stage management Marie Theissing | Assistant director Sophia Thomasberger | Animation collaboration Simon Skrepek | Costume assistant Angela Karpouzi | Supertitles Katharina Hollerwöger | Choreography Collaboration Germano Milite, Toni Rodrigues | Head of studies Benjamin McQuade, Petra Giacalone, François-Pierre Descamps | Collaboration Cornelius Burkert, Selina Nowak, André Harm, Melchior Lebesmühlbacher | Press Barbara Vanura | Production Jury Everhartz | Thanks to Malú Montes de Oca Luján de Heyman.

A production by the sirene Opera Theater in cooperation with Wien Modern at REAKTOR, November 2018