Operetta has always been escapism, an escape from everyday life into another world, a dream world. But what happens when this everyday life can no longer be ignored? What if the events in the world are so terrible that they can no longer be forgotten? In the first months of 1938, current political life enters the Volksoper during rehearsals for the operetta Gruß und Kuss aus der Wachau. What do intolerance, discrimination and fascism do to the employees of the Volksoper?

Political discussions and accusations undermine co-operation. In the course of rehearsals, the National Socialists' seizure of power brings about serious changes for the Volksoper: dismissals follow at all levels of the theatre, from opera singers to conductors, orchestral musicians and librettists. People who are persecuted because of their Jewish roots or their political views. A captivating look into the mirror of the past can also mean a confrontation with a painful period in the history of the Volksoper. We do not want to avoid this.

In Lass uns die Welt vergessen, director Theu Boermans brings the beautiful, cheerful entertainment of the Beneš operetta back to the Volksoper stage and contrasts it with the cold political reality of the Nazi era. Conductor Keren Kagarlitsky reconstructed the score of Gruß und Kuss aus der Wachau by Jara Beneš from the little surviving material.

The ensemble of today plays the ensemble of then.

Credits
Director: Theu Boermans
Stage design: Bernhard Hammer
Costume Design: Jorine van Beek
Choreography: Florian Hurler
Light design: Alex Brok
Video: Arjen Klerkx
Sound design: Martin Lukesch
Text/Libretto: Theu Boermans