Schwarzes Licht

A chamber opera and installation
Juta Pranulytė (composition) and Bahzad Sulaiman (text and direction)
Performed by Ensemble Modern
World premiere was October 24, 2025.
Frankfurt LAB, Germany.
Duration: approx. 25 min
In German language
Commissioned by Deutsche Bank Foundation / Akademie Musik Theater Heute

Foreignness as a state that does not resolve itself – and forces restlessness.
What must be left behind in order to belong?
How can one endure the silence that spreads in the infinite gap between departure and arrival?

Bodies react to attributions, adapt, shape themselves – and are shaped. In the search for belonging, often all that remains is the knowledge of others who have experienced similar things.

Schwarzes Licht (Black Light) is a musical theatre installation that examines the physical experience of those who have set out on a journey – in search of a new beginning. The piece is based on interviews with people who have left a place or a country at different times and ask themselves what home can mean.

These biographical fragments give rise to a central character who never gives up her unconditional longing for a place in society. On her journey, she repeatedly encounters her inner voices – represented as a choir. Sometimes they urge her to turn back, then again to keep going. This polyphony creates a productive ambiguity that repeatedly throws the main character back on herself.

Bahzad Sulaiman’s interest in performative theatre becomes audible in Juta Pranulytė’s composition: voices and instruments are pushed to their limits, fragility is provoked – the inner process becomes musically tangible.

The artistic team at Schwarzes Licht agreed early on to bring real, unadulterated voices to the stage. This creates a field of tension that does justice to the individual stories of the interviewees – while remaining open to the experiences of the audience.

Text: Flavia Wolfgramm and Marlene Schleicher
© Deutsche Bank Stiftung _Jessica Schäfer

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