In Barrie Kosky's production of The Magic Flute, everything is straight out of a fairy tale, and every idea demonstrates the director's immense sense of humor, who must have thoroughly enjoyed the music of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. When the red curtain opens, the audience sees only a white screen, where the frolics begin – the director imaginatively juggles, to the rhythm of Mozart's music, elements of silent film, slapstick comedy, and cartoon. The co-creators of this production – Suzanne Andrade and Paul Barritt of the "1927" ensemble – have combined film animation with live theater. The effect is dazzling. Here, Papageno, this bawdy simpleton, here portrayed as a sad clown in the style of Buster Keaton, gets drunk in the company of pink elephants honking cocktails from narrow glasses. The Queen of the Night is a giant spider, Monostatos appears as a pale vampire in a Count Dracula costume, and Pamina wears a black wig with fringe, which makes her resemble the actress and dancer Louise Brooks, a star of silent films.

The Magic Flute

Teatr Wielki - Polish National Opera

Helena, the most beautiful woman in the world and wife of King Menelaus, is bored at the court of Sparta when a mysterious - and incredibly attractive - shepherd suddenly appears and brings a lot of life into the shabby place. What else can Helena, the faithful servant of Venus, do but surrender to her fate?

The Beautiful Helena

Schiller Theater

Everything in Barrie Kosky’s production of The Magic Flute seems like a fairytale and each subsequent idea is a proof of the director’s enormous sense of humour: the composer must have had a lot of fun working with Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart’s score. The red curtain opens to reveal nothing but a white screen where all the frolics will soon take place – the director will juggle elements of silent film, slapstick comedy and cartoon art. His collaborators, Suzanne Andrade and Paul Barritt, also known as “1927”, mixed film animation with live theatre. The effect is stunning. Papageno, the boisterous bumpkin portrayed here as a sad clown channelling Buster Keaton, gets drunk onstage in the company of pink elephants quaffing cocktails from flute glasses. The Queen of the Night is a huge spider, Monostatos appears as a pale vampire dressed as Count Dracula, while Pamina’s black wig with a fringe makes her look like Louise Brooks, the iconic silent film actress and dancer.

Barrie Kosky's The Magic Flute takes us into its own fantastic world of images. Tamino falls in love with a portrait of Pamina and sets out to save her. Threatened by dragons, enchanted by pink elephants, dancing constellations and flying butterfly boys, The Magic Flute becomes a magical road movie on the way to true love.

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart's opera seems to raise more puzzles and questions than it provides answers. It is not for nothing that the "title heroine" of this classic opera is an instrument - because in the end, only music seems to find the right language for the depths of basic human experiences before which logic and reason capitulate. The British theater troupe "1927" and Barrie Kosky tell the story with the help of projected animations as a living picture book in a "deliciously absurd mixture of silent and animated film." [BERLINER MORGENPOST]

A coming of age story and a story of love: The Queen of the Night persuades Prince Tamino to rescue her daughter Pamina from captivity under the high priest Sarastro. Tamino, who instantly falls in love with Pamina, is ready to set off. Involuntarily, bird catcher Papageno is also sent along with Tamino - as companion to the prince. After various trials of initiation, courage and perseverance Tamino and Papageno not only find their station in life as adults, but also each the woman to their hearts' content: Tamino gains the hand of Pamina and Papageno lives happily ever after with his Papagena. We show the legendary Magic Flute of the Komische Oper Berlin, which director Barrie Kosky staged with the theater video art collective "1927" in an astonishing video animation world for the whole family.

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The Staatstheater Stuttgart

The Queen of the Night asks Tamino to free Pamina from the clutches of the supposed villain Sarastro. And so, together with the bird catcher Papageno, he sets out to become a hero. But there are many surprises awaiting him on his adventurous rescue mission... Barrie Kosky's multimedia staging, which the director developed together with the British artists' collective “1927”, has long enjoyed cult status around the world. The imaginative interplay of scene, music and video animation elegantly transposes Mozart's opera into the present day.

German Oper am Rhein

A coming of age story and a story of love: The Queen of the Night persuades Prince Tamino to rescue her daughter Pamina from captivity under the high priest Sarastro. Tamino, who instantly falls in love with Pamina, is ready to set off. Involuntarily, bird catcher Papageno is also sent along with Tamino – as companion to the prince. After various trials of initiation, courage and perseverance Tamino and Papageno not only find their station in life as adults, but also each the woman to their hearts’ content: Tamino gains the hand of Pamina and Papageno lives happily ever after with his Papagena. We show the legendary Magic Flute of the Komische Oper Berlin, which director Barrie Kosky staged with the theater video art collective "1927" in an astonishing video animation world for the whole family.

Diego Leetz

Events

Upcoming events

Dec 3, 2025 - Jan 4, 2026

The Magic Flute · Polish National Opera

Dec 10, 2025 - Mar 13, 2026

The Magic Flute · Deutsche Oper am Rhein

Jan 4 - Jun 28, 2026

The Magic Flute · Staatsoper Stuttgart

Past events

Dec 3, 2025 - Jan 4, 2026

The Magic Flute · Polish National Opera

Feb 22 - Mar 30, 2025

The Beautiful Helena · Komische Oper Berlin

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