De Gabber Opera

“Come into our midst now, Thumper, o, Thumper, Shake the Earth, mighty Jolter” (from The Bacchae by Euripides, 406 B.C.)

Performance collective URLAND is shaving their heads and taking a hardcore trip for anyone yearning for a theatrical extravaganza. The Gabber Opera is inspired by Euripides’ The Bacchae, and portrays man’s timeless inclination to sedate, and to see ecstasy. In a God forsaken landscape we see four bald nymphs; while intoxicated, finding what they’d lost, and losing what was theirs. A Grand Story about ritual, intoxication, and all-consuming Nothingness.

De Gabber Opera is a remake of the very first URLAND performance in 2010. In the context of De Ur-triënnale 2021, the performance got a reboot and won the VSCD Mime/Performance Award at the Nederlands Theater Festival 2022.

De Gabber Opera music is available on Bandcamp.

/ Credits / Reviews / Played Venues / Documentation

Credits

By and with Ludwig Bindervoet, Thomas Dudkiewicz, Marijn Alexander de Jong, Karel van Laere, Jimi Zoet
Production URLAND
Coproduction Theater Rotterdam
Light Design Varja Klosse
Costumes Theater Rotterdam Costume Atelier (Karin van der Leeuw and Erik Bosman)
Libretto based upon Euripides’ The Bacchae Annelinde Bruijs
Technicians Denzo Theatertechniek (André Goos), Frank Hermans, Marcel Janssen, Ruud Lamers, Edwin van Steenbergen
Production Leader Elise de Fooij and Andrea van Bussel
Production assistent Nienke Kiesling
Context Program Production Leader Mara Liza de Bakker
Graphic Design Ruben Verkuylen
Photography Sandra Zegarra Patow
Public Relations Esra J. Merkel & Pien Visser
Business Management Jens Besse

Special thanks to

URLAND is made possible by Gemeente Rotterdam and Fonds Podiumkunsten.

Reviews

"Presented by the Dutch performancecollective URLAND, De Gabber Opera is a hallucinatory reimagining of hardstyle rave's heydays through the lens of Euripides's The Bacchantes and the German operatic tradition. Exploring humankind's perpetual desire for sedation and ecstasy, cultural mythos and, more implicitly, the fascistic associations of both opera and gabber as 'high' and 'low' art forms respectively, the production is a surreal 70 minute escapade." The Wire Magazine (Hannah Pezzack)

Played Venues

ITA (Rabozaal), Nederlands Theaterfestival, Kunstmin, Theater Rotterdam, Stadsschouwburg Utrecht, ITA (Grote zaal), Koninklijke Schouwburg, Theater de Veste

Documentation