DIE GROSSE REISE – EIN MELODRAM FÜR DIE GEGENWART

Concert and scenic recitation based on the legendary novel by the Buchenwald survivor author

“But this night won't end,” says the boy from Semur to Gérard, who is crammed into a cattle wagon with him and 118 other political prisoners. They don't yet know that their destination is Buchenwald concentration camp. 17 years after the liberation, Jorge Semprún (1923–2011) broke his silence. He tells his story in the autobiographical novel ‘The Great Journey’: Born in Spain, he had to flee into exile in Paris at the beginning of the civil war. Under the pseudonym Gérard, he joined the communist resistance movement in 1941. Two years later, he was arrested by the Gestapo. A long journey began for him. The memories are the occasion for philo- sophical and artistic confrontation.

The novel is more relevant today than ever. Because Jorge Semprún searches for colors in the black and white colors of society. Because it looks at the fragility of humanity, because it calls for a voice in the black.

In the world premiere as a melodrama, the voices of the acting ensemble combine with the sounds of the ensemble klangwerk am bauhaus to give the Great Journey a resounding presence. For remembering. For the power of change.