Lulu

[Lulu. Tragödie in 5 Aufzügen mit einem Prolog]

by Frank Wedekind
Music by Lou Reed and Hal Willner; Costumes by Jacques Reynaud; Dramaturgy by Jutta Ferbers

Premiered on April 12, 2011 at the Berliner Ensemble, Berlin, Germany

Performed in German.

Commissioned by the Berliner Ensemble, Robert Wilson directed Lulu, a masterpiece of German expressionism. Frank Wedekind's play inspired the film by Pabst as well as Alban Berg's eponymous opera. Long-time friend and collaborator Lou Reed (Time Rocker, POEtry) contributed the music, and the astonishing German actress Angela Winkler starred in the title role. The production played regularly in the Berliner Ensemble's repertoire until 2014, and was invited to the 55th Theater Festival in Spoleto, Italy, in 2012.

Wedekind created Lulu by joining two works, The Spirit of the Earth and Pandora's Box, whose amorality caused problems with censorship in the early twentieth century. However, behind the story of a woman's scandalous rise and fall, there lies both a great modern tragedy and a dazzling ode to freedom.