‘In the Beginning Was the Abyss, or The World Isn’t Quite Right’ Seven drama students from the ZHdK

Last year’s performance by the ZHdK theatre students thoroughly delighted the Ticino audience – the evening was youthful, direct and full of theatrical verve. It stands to reason that this collaboration should continue – this time with three performances featuring students from the current year group.

Georg Kreisler wrote songs that smile whilst revealing the abyss. They come across as light-footed, like chansons, couplets or cabaret numbers — and in the next moment find themselves at the heart of the challenges of our time: rootlessness, alienation, violence, loneliness, the loss of language, a longing for freedom and a distrust of any convenient truth.

Seven drama students from the ZHdK approach Georg Kreisler’s songs, texts and poems not as nostalgic cabaret, but as contemporary theatrical material. The evening is complemented by contemporary songs that respond to Kreisler from a modern perspective and explore his themes further.

A recital about the imposition of having to stay awake. And about the strange hope that even the bitterest joke still holds a remnant of freedom.

Starring: Chiara Brandt, Ambra Luna Dimai, Leonard Dribinsky, Matilda Hollrotter, Theresa Kaplick, Valentin Seyffer and Anastasia Zatta

On piano: Moritz Lieberherr

Conductor: Till Löffler
Collaboration: Matthias Walter
Photo: Bernhard Fuchs, ZHdK evening ‘TingelTangel’ on 25 October at the Teatro Ticino