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Bob Wilson’s Einstein

Einstein on the Beach created a revolution in the theatre world upon its 1976 premiere. Catch Philip Glass' abstract evocation of Einstein's impact on the world as interpreted by Bob Wilson at the Haus der Berliner Festspiele from Mar 5-7.

Image for Bob Wilson's Einstein
Photo by Lucie Jansch

Einstein on the Beach premiered on Sunday, Mar 2 and will have three more showings March 5-7.

Einstein on the Beach created a revolution in the theatre world upon its 1976 premiere. A total art piece, an abstract opera, it offers a fascinating flow of images, poems, dance and movements, following no narrative but the hypnotic music of Philip Glass and the abstract evocation of Einstein’s impact on the world.

A 19th-century train entering the stage opens the show, as one vision among many: a trial, a giant bed, a prison, a huge tower, an illuminated spaceship… and Einstein playing violin.

“It’s a work where you go and get lost. You don’t have to understand anything,” says director Bob Wilson. The current revival, started in 2012, is only the third since 1976; a sense of “now or never” therefore accompanies the Berlin showing of this legendary work, which hasn’t lost an inch of its fascinating drive and hypnotic power.

For more of Wilson’s work, check out his magnificent version of the Threepenny Opera in March, or Peter Pan (with CocoRosie’s music) in April, both at the Berliner Ensemble.

EINSTEIN ON THE BEACH March 3, 5-7, 18:30 | Haus der Berliner Festspiele

Originally published in issue #125, March 2014.