World Premiere: 21 August 2014 – Bregenzer Festspiele / KAZ, Bregenz, Austria Music by Peter Herbert Novella by Hans Platzgumer Stage director by Ran Arthur Braun Video by Lillevan In German with Arabic, French, Russian and Turkish interjections Synopsis: Anton Corwald is a successful contractor who takes a team of Austrian workers and engineers to Libya in 2011 to build a high-speed transport link for Gaddafi’s regime. Not long afterwards an uprising against the dictator starts in the east of the country and the construction workers find themselves caught up in the turmoil of the civil war that is later christened the Arab Spring. Without information, work or any communication with the outside world, they are held at the camp on the building site and their food supplies are rationed. The only hope is that Corwald will find a way to get his men out of the country. Hans Platzgumer’s novella Trans-Maghreb was a book recommendation for the year 2012 by the German newspaper FAZ, which praised the work as a “shimmering meditation about the unintelligibility of the present day”. The novella has been adapted into a libretto for the Bregenz Festival in 2014. Music director: Benjamin Lack Stage director: Ran Arthur Braun Stage designer. Susanna Boehm Costume designer: Claudia Raab Lighting designer: Matthias Zuggal Video: Lillevan Gerald (buffo tenor): Robert Maszl Anton Corwald (bass): Wilfried Staber Tahédag: Amal Murkus Gerhard (buffo tenor): Stanislav Kuflyuk Gonzo (bass): Markus Raab Abdullah & Kemal (bass): Sebastian Campione Mahmoud (extra): Juliusz Kubiak Performers of the Bregenz Festival Prague Philharmonic Choir Commissioned by the Bregenz Festival More info: Festival Website
