Woyzeck

Part of the 2008 Next Wave Festival

Oct 15, 17 & 18 at 7:30pm

By Georg Büchner
Vesturport and The City Theatre
Directed by Gísli Örn Gardarsson

"No one blazes a trail of theatrical excitement and thrilling invention quite like the Icelandic actor/director Gísli Gardarsson."—Evening Standard (UK)

A man thrashes violently in a gigantic water tank, his limbs akimbo, his face a mask of sheer terror. Welcome to Woyzeck's world as imagined by Iceland's breakout actor/director Gísli Örn Gardarsson—a place that, thanks to the hyper-athletic cast, explodes with energy. Set to a rollicking score by cult rock legend Nick Cave and The Dirty Three's violinist Warren Ellis, this is a Woyzeck for the angst-ridden 21st-century, a stunningly visceral take on Georg Büchner's classic tale of honorable intentions gone tragically wrong.

Frantic to support his mistress and her young son, Woyzeck succumbs to a series of gruesome scientific experiments which only increases his mounting paranoia and fear that his Marie is having an affair. She is, of course, with the Drum Major, a charismatic sadist who swings menacingly from a trapeze, baiting and beating the hapless Woyzeck. The black-cloaked chorus intones forebodingly, bearing witness to all that unfolds. It's too much. Woyzeck is pushed to the brink and, thanks to Gardarsson and his intrepid company, we go along—mesmerized and breathless—to the inevitable, watery finale.

BAM Howard Gilman Opera House
Running time: 90min, no intermission
Ticket: $20, 35, 45, 60

Performed in English


English Translation by Ruth Little, Gísli Örn Gardarsson, and Jón Atli Jónasson
Original Music Nick Cave and Warren Ellis
Lyrics Nick Cave
Stage Design Börkur Jónsson
Lighting Design Lárus Björnsson
Costume Design Filippiá Elisdóttir

Co-produced by Reykjavik City Theatre, the Young Vic and Bite:05, Barbican as part of Young Genius.

BAM Interview with Gìsli Örn Gardarsson
BAM's Executive Producer Joseph V. Melillo chats with Woyzeck director Gìsli Örn Gardarsson. More

VesturPort Theatre Site
Woyzeck, straight from the source. More

Gìsli Örn Gardarsson Biography
A brief bio of the dashing young Woyzeck director. More

Vesturport Theatre on Reykjavik.com
On the birth of an iconic theater and the Icelandic culture that sustains it. More

Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds Site
Nick and fellow bandmate Warren Ellis wrote the score to Gardarsson's Woyzeck. More

Profile of Gìsli Örn Gardarsson from The Telegraph
Woyzeck director Gìsli Örn Gardarsson and a reporter forge a river on horseback and discuss German Expressionist theater. More

The History of Woyzeck
An article on the coming-to-be of a great play and a few of its more famous adaptations. More

Expressionism on Wikipedia
The psychological intensity of Woyzeck make it a strong precurser to this fin du siecle movement. More