“From the beginning of time, worlds rise and worlds crash... And life is born and life is burned.”
1838: Richard Wagner writes Rienzi. Seventy years later, a 17-year-old Adolf Hitler witnesses the composer’s first opera in performance - and is struck dumb. For Wagner, it was one of the greatest creative acts known to us. For Hitler, it sets in motion the greatest wave of human destruction we have ever seen. For both, the city of Dresden is their stage.
Justin Fleming’s explosive new play is a story of creativity and destruction and the dark side of human inspiration. Of the fork in the road and how far you might travel along it before you are stopped. It is the story of Hitler and Wagner, and the woman who connected them through time.
Writer Justin Fleming | Director Suzanne Millar
With Yalin Ozucelik, Jeremy Waters, Ben Wood, Renee Lim, Thomas Campbell, Dorje Swallow
Set Design Patrick Howe; Lighting Design Benjamin Brockman; Sound Design Max Lambert; Stage Manager Charlie Vaux; Assistant Director Rebecca Blake; Production Assistant Hannah Goodwin; Production Manager Andrew McMartin; Producer John Harrison
“Exhilaratingly theatrical... stirring, enthralling and surprisingly funny.”
“Refreshing and exhilarating... a singular joy.”
“Utterly thrilling.”
“Against a backdrop monumental and historic, Fleming’s words sing with an enchanting beauty... Director Suzanne Millar very deftly negotiates the weaving realms of the play, taking us from real to imaginary, across terrains and timelines, for an impressively lucid telling of tales.”
“A big production in an intimate space... See it at Kings Cross Theatre before it is inevitably adopted by bigger spaces.”
“Under the baton and seemingly ever watchful eye of director Suzanne Millar this unmissable 75 minute production sweeps by. It is pitch perfect, rhythmically paced and bordering on utter brilliance.”
“Served in a single course, Dresden is big, meaty fare.”
“Interesting and intriguing and incredibly well executed.”
“The flair and grandeur of a mainstage production... Every aspect of this production is sublime.”
“Passes in a concentration of action and emotion that culminates in a dark confetti of desperation and dejection”
