Robert Wilson & Anna Calvi - Düsseldorfer Schauspielhaus

"Robert Wilson's artistic visual theatre really gets under your skin, also thanks to Anna Calvi's catchy music." - Die Zeit (D) 

Following ‘The Black Rider’, Robert Wilson once again shows us how he is able to transform a dark fairy tale into a visually and musically stunning rock ballad. At his side is the British singer-songwriter Anna Calvi, famous for her dark voice, virtuoso guitar playing and poetic lyrics. This time his choice was ‘Der Sandmann’ by E.T.A. Hoffmann, written in 1816. Little Nathaniel believes that the death of his father - a secret alchemist who is killed in an explosion - has to do with the sandman his mother often talks about. He sprinkles sand in the eyes of children who do not want to sleep until their eyes roll out of their eye sockets all covered in blood. So, a bedtime story, but one that is intended to make the child afraid. For the boy, the boundary between reality and illusion is blurred. Hoffmann is one of the first to thematise fear as a powerful controlling mechanism in the modern age.