Workshop presentation: »Helena« after Euripides

With »Helena«, director Jörg Behr, musician Jan F. Kurth and stage and costume designers Silke Willrett and Marc Weeger dedicate themselves to a 2,500 year-old myth. The point of departure for a reworking of the material is Euripides’ Helena tragedy, which claims that the Trojan War was not waged for Helena herself, but for her phantom. In exile, the true Helena waits for the return of her husband Menelaos, who can hardly fathom having waged war for ten years over nothing but a mirage. The couple ultimately meets again, but the two are riddled with deception and disappointment. How do they deal with this?

Musically, the possibilities of improvised music in the context of spoken theater are explored: Scenically, Helena explores the theatrical use of the voice on the boundaries between musical theater and acting. The piece is a cooperation between the Akademie Schloss Solitude with the Theater Augsburg.

Four weeks before the premiere in Augsburg, the directorial team and the artists offer a sneak peek at their work at the Akademie.

Jörg Behr (*1972 in Bremen) studied musical theater direction in Hamburg, which he completed in 1997 with a production of Luciano Berio’s version of Mozart’s Zaide. From 1997 to 2004, he was a directorial assistant and director at the Staatsoper Stuttgart, and has mounted numerous productions in Germany and Switzerland, most recently the Drei Wasserspiele by Detlev Glanert in Zurich. Behr was a fellow at the Akademie in 2005/2006 and 2007.

Jan F. Kurth (*1982 in Cologne) is a singer, vocalist, composer, recorder player and electronic musician. From 2003 to 2008, he studied jazz singing and recorder, as well as a music education and electronic music at the Dresden Music Academy. With the Italian multi-instrumentalist and performance artist Diego Cofone, Kurth makes up half of the duo Basso di Basso. Jan F. Kurth was a guest at the Akademie in 2008.