A rewarding trip. A sensitive and intelligently crafted approach to our inevitable disappearance.Fridamagazin
It could happen to anyone — a regular day, a visit to the doctor, and suddenly everything shifts. MITOSIS follows a person betrayed by their own body, objectified by biomedical reductionism, and struggling to live at the very moment they must learn to let go. But hidden between the lines lies another story: that of LSD - once banned, now returning through groundbreaking research that points to its potential to ease the fear of dying.
Blending scientific inquiry with hallucinogenic revelation, MITOSIS critiques both the medicalization of illness and the commodification of healing in pop wellness culture. What emerges is a layered and intimate contemporary opera that reframes death not as an end, but as a process of transformation - a shedding of the ego, a reconfiguration of the self.
Directed by American-Swiss performance artist Brandy Butler - who returns to DE SINGEL after a previous appearance in 2021 - MITOSIS is rooted in personal loss: the death of her mother. Out of that experience, Butler crafts a universal musical narrative. Through a rich palette of musical styles, talk therapy and transdisciplinary storytelling, she opens up a space for grief, care and surrender.
Starring vocalist Annie Goodchild (Post Modern Jukebox, Punchdrunk’s Sleep No More) and an international team of artists, MITOSIS is as unflinching as it is moving. A bold and emotionally resonant opera that invites us to confront mortality - and life - head-on.