TEOREMA tells the story of a bourgeois Milanese family - described by Pier Paolo Pasolini as “no way a case of exceptional persons but of persons who are more or less average.” Released in 1968 both as a film and as a novel, it is not only one of Pasolini's best-known works, but also one of his most radical. The arrival of a mysterious Guest provides a catalyst to test a simple theory: can people change? Is another world possible? 

Giorgio Battistelli, who caused a sensation around the world with his EXPERIMENTUM MUNDI, adapted this strange story for the opera, and the production turns the stage into the site of an experiment, a place to examine the behaviour of these unremarkable characters and ask: why do we go to the theatre watch people? What are we looking for?

TEOREMA is asking the audience to look at opera differently, as an experiment in form – an invitation to see the world anew and, hopefully, to see the world as a place where miracles can happen. 

IL TEOREMA DI PASOLINI premiered 9th June 2023 at Deutsche Oper, Berlin, and was remounted in November 2023.

“The house cheered, trampled, whistled and, like Giorgio Battistelli, was delighted with the unanimous success of his 20th music theatre work. The grand seigneur of contemporary Italian music had achieved something extraordinary…. Pasolini's multi-layered, ambiguous and religiously influenced theorem game expands into a fundamental question of social evolution in civil societies: How does man get rid of his feelings and become a pure rational being? This constellation is fascinating and intense thanks to a top-class and sensitive ensemble… [and] the visuals at Deutsche Oper Berlin are hard to beat.”

Die Deutsche Bühne

“The large auditorium of the Deutsche Oper was exceedingly well filled. The orchestra in the pit had one of its finest moments, the singers on stage were strong performers and well cast vocally. On top of that, the production was able to arouse curiosity. After an hour and a half, the audience cheered. All the more remarkable because it was a world premiere.

The British-Irish directing duo Dead Centre has moved the whole plot into an experimental laboratory. The technical effort of the production is considerable [and] it carries itself beautifully over a good hour and a half. ”

Berliner Morgenpost

Conductor
DANIEL COHEN

Singers
MONICA BACELLI
ÁNGELES BLANCAS GULIN
NIKOLAY BORCHEV
DAVIDE DAMIANI
ANDREI DANILOV
MEECHOT MARRERO

Actors
DORIS GRUNER
PAULA D. KOCH
NELIDA MARTINEZ
ERIC NAUMANN
CHRISTOPH SCHLEMMER 

Live Camera ASHTON GREENE

Stage and Costume Design NINA WETZEL
Video Design SEBASTIAN DUPOUEY
Lighting Design STEPHEN DODD

Dramaturg JÖRG KÖNIGSDORF
Assistant Directors LARS BRAUN, PHILINE TIEZEL
Sound Design BENJAMIN SCHULZ

Stage Design Assistant ASTA HANSEN
Costume Assistant MARIE BRANDT
Video Assistant JANIC BEBI

Libretto GIORGIO BATTISTELLI, IAN BURTON
Orchestra DEUTSCHES OPER BERLIN ORCHESTRA
Direction BUSH MOUKARZEL, BEN KIDD

TRAILER

IMAGES by Eike Walkenhorst