Two men, two women. But each person appears to be alone. Are they couples? Who belongs to whom? Do they even know? And who, when it’s all over, will belong to whom?

Canadian Glen Sheppard works in experimental film, installation and on stage. With his theatrical works, which he describes as “psychological choreographies,” he occupies a special position in Berlin’s independent music theatre scene. He transposes material from opera and song into ritualised settings that often aim to slow things down, creating a condensed experience of the progression of time.

UNE MYSTIFICATION draws on Debussy’s setting of the scandalous poetry cycle “Chansons de Bilitis.” The open account of lesbian love, first published as a purported translation from ancient Greek, Sheppard links to homoerotic poetry by modern Greek poet Konstantions P. Kavatfis and New York beat poet Frank O’Hara. UNE MYSTIFICATION, previously only captured on film due to lockdown, has now been readapted for the Roten Salon. A production that transfers the pathos and theatricality of classical musical theatre into the state of –according to Sheppard – a “queer eternal”.

Music: Claude Debussy: Trois chansons de Bilitis (1900), Six épigraphes antiques (1915)
Text: Frank O’Hara, Constantin Cavafy, Pierre Louÿs, Paul Verlaine

Conzept, Space, Stage Direction: Glen Sheppard | Costumes: Derya Issever, Michael Sontag | Make-up: Pascale Jean-Louis | Musical Repetition: Olivia Clarke

With: Marie-Gabrielle Arco, Mezzosopran | Jessica Rucinski, Klavier | Carsten Clemens, Performance | Felix Utting, Performance

Location: Volksbühne – Roter Salon

Duration: ca. 60 Minuten

Performances:
So 10.4. │ 16:00 UHR
So 10.4. │ 19:00 UHR

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