Die Odyssee

THE ODYSSEY, probably the best-known heroic saga in world literature, describes the adventure-filled, ten year long journey home of the cunning, resourceful and eloquent war hero Odysseus.

Homer wrote down the orally transmitted tales at a time when Greek dynasties were setting out to conquer other countries and found colonies abroad. And the adventures of the artful hero were framed from this west European perspective in such a way that, for example, the indigenous inhabitants of other countries are described in the original as “barbarians” and “savages” who represent a threat, while the forces of nature and mistakes made by the Greeks themselves are considered to be caused by divine fate. It is a truism that history is written by the victors, whose heroes at the end naturally come out on top. But do we necessarily have to read history, let alone reproduce it, that way? What does the story look like, for example, from the point of view of Penelope and her son Telemachus, who were left at home? If viewed from a different perspective, aren’t all these heroic deeds simply imperialistic campaigns of conquest undertaken by the Greeks to gain new colonies? Is Odysseus’s revenge on the suitors on his return to Ithaca not in fact the rampage of a war criminal suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder and striving to wrest back power violently as ruler over Ithaca? Doesn’t a more critical look at these ostensibly heroic wanderings allow us to reflect on our conceptions of society and humanity, on our own socialisation, in which an alarmingly high proportion of the population continues to fall for the heroic saviour, the tough man of action, the genius, whether in the world of business, politics, sport or popular culture?

So that the many and varied readings of THE ODYSSEY can be experienced in a fresh way, the team led by director Simon Solberg and composer Ketan Bhatti have chosen the music theatre form of spoken-word opera, a composition for actors and musicians. In it, language and music, though diametrically opposed, come together in a dialogue. Analytical logos meets lyrical myth. Language and music confront, influence and challenge each other, re-engaging and merging constantly. The ego struggles against the soul. Reason against the heart. The head against the gut. Pulled to and fro between the approaches both musically and textually, THE ODYSSEY becomes a journey into the collective self, into who and what we are. The actors in the drama recognise their own shadows, the masks that make up their persona, and begin to call them into question.

THE ODYSSEY is a story that can be experienced through the senses, revolving around the search for recognition, the power of shame, the quest for security and a life of meaning.

Composer Ketan Bhatti is financed through the Fellowship Programme of the Beethovenfest Bonn, supported by the federal state of North Rhine/Westphalia and the municipality of Bonn

As a composer, Ketan Bhatti crosses boundaries between new, electronic and popular music. He studied jazz drums at the Berlin University of the Arts, where later, as a composer, he was a fellow at the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences. Ketan Bhatti’s works range from contemporary chamber music, experimental music and dance theatre, music for the stage and cinema, to hip-hop based productions, with an essential role being played by various cultural trends and the interaction of acoustic and electronic sound, among other things. Together with his brother Vivan Bhatti, he has been responsible for the stage music in productions by Nuran David Calis at many major German-speaking theatres (including Deutsches Theater Berlin, Schauspiel Köln, Staatstheater Dresden) as well as the internationally touring break dance shows by the Berlin urban dance company Flying Steps. The Bhatti brothers’ works have been performed by various ensembles such as the Berlin/Icelandic Ensemble Adapter, the Berliner Ensemble and the chamber orchestra Diwan der Kontinente at festivals including the Wien Modern Festival and Jazzfest Berlin. Most recently, their second opera Das schwarze Wasser, based on the play by Roland Schimmelpfennig, was premiered at the Neuköllner Oper in Berlin.