Flowers for Otello

An opera based on a libretto by Esther Dischereit
Directed and with video by Nuran David Calis
Music by Vivan and Ketan Bhatti
Stage design by Irina Schicketanz

Conducted by Cymin Samawatie
Performed by Ensemble Resonanz & Trickster Orchestra

A production by Kampnagel

In her opera libretto »Lamentations«, Esther Dischereit investigates the prejudices that enabled the crimes and obstructed their resolution. She reveals how racism and social bias against a stigmatized underclass rendered the system blind, and how this blindness turned the system itself into a perpetrator – by seeking guilt among those who had paid with their lives. With the Shakespearean figure of Othello, who, as an experienced victim of the mob, sheds light on what has happened in conversation with the murdered Turkish florist, Dischereit presents, in a way both visceral and theatrical, how the “foreign” is humiliated, attacked, cast out—then and now. Her texts form part of a collective work of mourning in our society, and an attempt to break the silence in the face of the cruelty of these acts and the prejudices revealed in the failures of German authorities.

Directors Note / Nuran David Calis
Esther Dischereit's libretto turns to the victims of the NSU murders. The text is dark and gloomy in its language, in its lament. Poetic and violent at the same time. Accusation. Pain. They stand side by side. Filling the space is both the point of departure and the pivotal moment of the production. The victims speak to us in many voices: the survivors, the relatives, so that the reality of terror takes hold of the viewer, spatially, sensually, and makes the suffering palpable for the viewer. Esther Dischereit blends the documentary and the fictional into an open poetic sketch. This approach takes over the direction and sets the scene. With interviews with victims, survivors, relatives, lawyers and contemporary witnesses. Every line aims to make the suffering tangible for the viewer. The production follows this poetic power. It is a text in which the perpetrators are given no space, a text in which the viewer shows solidarity only with the victims.

Composers Note/ Vivan und Ketan Bhatti
Vivan and Ketan Bhatti aim to set this libretto, written by Esther Dischereit, to music creating a full-length music theatre work. The Berlin-based »Trickster Orchestra« and the Hamburg-based »Ensemble Resonanz« will collaborate on the realization of the production. The result will be an »opera orchestra« of around 20 musicians, in which instruments from the classical European musical tradition as well as instruments from non-European musical traditions will play a leading role. A small ensemble of singers and actors will be on stage. The music will move between the realms of classical »new music«, modern beat-driven electronic club music and musical traditions from outside Europe. The aim is to create a complex and multi-layered picture of our modern transcultural society.

Producer’s Note / Kampnagel Hamburg
This project will be produced at Kampnagel, co-produced by a number of partner theaters in the cities affected by the NSU complex, which came together in 2021 under the initiative »KEIN SCHLUSSSTRICH!« (no closure) to form the association Licht ins Dunkel e.V., and have since organized over 1,000 events across Germany dedicated to confronting and processing the crimes. In addition, the Hamburg and Hanover State Operas have also been won as production partners. The aim is to create a compact theater work able to »tour« internationally, which can be performed as a guest production at theatres within the »KEIN SCHLUSSSTRICH!« network, as well as at other venues across Europe and beyond.