KRABAT (World Premiere)

About the production

Krabat is the most famous legendary figure in Sorbian culture. At the Lausitz Festival, he takes on musical form in a new opera. Composed and written by Marius Felix Lange, »Krabat« deals with major themes such as fear (Strach) and war, magical power and the power of love, death and life. For the Lausitz Festival's co-production with the Gerhart-Hauptmann-Theater Görlitz-Zittau, which will take the play into its repertoire after the world premiere on 13 September, Marius Felix Lange travelled through Lusatia and explored the old legends, traditions and songs. What he learned and collected in the process, he put together with his imagination and creative power, trained from many previous successful productions, to create a melodious musical theatre work for the whole family.

Martin Stefke, head dramaturge at the Gerhart-Hauptmann-Theater, explains what the opera is about: »The Sorbian lowlands in 1642. There is war in Europe, a bloody war that historians will later call the Thirty Years' War. The black miller is in a tight spot. He can hardly find any journeymen. Too many young men have lost their lives in the fighting. Others have died of hunger or disease or fled their homes. But the miller urgently needs new labourers, as he has signed a contract with the goddess of death, Smjertnica: Every year at Easter, he must sacrifice one of these boys to her on the condition that twelve miller's boys always work for him. If he fails to do so, he forfeits his life and must die. He draws hope from dark magic. When he discovers a chapter in his magic book that describes how a mill wheel can become a time machine, he tries out the black magic and finds Krabat, a boy from the future. He lures him into the mill (Młyn), where Krabat not only has to work, but is also soon to become the miller's successor. But Krabat sees through the miller's schemes and opposes him with courage and cunning.«

A cultural journey through time that takes us on a colourful journey to the coordinates that have defined becoming and being human for centuries.  

Opera wokoło stracha w jeho mnohich formach a přeća a móžnosće, so wot njeho wuswobodźić.

An opera about fear in its many forms and the desire and possibility to free oneself from it.

A co-production with Gerhart-Hauptmann-Theatre Görlitz-Zittau

Tickets from 8 April on the website of the Gerhart-Hauptmann-Theater.