The Myth of Homo Rudolfensis

Music
Yair Klartag

Libretto and set
Yael Sherill

Costumes
Aileen Klein

Singers
Margit Fodor
Kurumi Yanaghi
Céline Wasmer

Gorilla
Fritz Faust

October 2014
Teatro Piccolo Arsenale
Venice

Birth, hurry, fight, run, death: and what happens then? Then the next one is born to hurry, fight, run and die: what comes next?

In May 2013, our team was selected to participate in the first edition of the Venetian Biennale Musica College. For over a year we regularly visited workshops in Venice with famous artists from the contemporary music theater world. The goal was to stage a short opera whose concept we had developed during the workshops. The piece was shown in October 2014 at the Teatro Piccolo Arsenale in Venice.

When we look back at the history of evolution: to whom do we give the last word?

Seen through the magnifying glass, the process of human evolution may seem strikingly repetitive throughout the millennium. The Myth of Homo Rudolfensis is a reflection on the (sometimes absurd) evolution of man.

Our goal was to create a comic absurd short opera. Yair Klartag has quoted a great moment of the operatic history, which is particularly significant for his great drama and puts him in a completely new context: Traviata’s death. In addition came choreographic elements, which also concerned the orchestra. The music does not allow the viewer to immerse himself in a magic world made of illusions. This was primarily a consideration in the textual installation of Yael Sherill.

In the production, I was concerned with underlining the comic and absurd aspects of music and libretto. We were interested in dealing with the whole space – thinking beyond the stage design. I did not aspire to a psychological system of the characters, which act out of the inner motivation. The figures were to become much more slaves of the circumstances in which they were thrown.