At BAM this weekend: Woyzeck By Georg Büchner with music by Nick Cave. Performed by Vesturport and The City Theatre and directed by Gísli Örn Gardarsson. Sounds interesting.

A
man thrashes violently in a gigantic water tank, his limbs akimbo, his
face a mask of sheer terror. Welcome to Woyzeck’s world as imagined by
Iceland’s breakout actor/director Gísli Örn Gardarsson—a place that,
thanks to the hyper-athletic cast, explodes with energy. Set to a
rollicking score by cult rock legend Nick Cave and The Dirty Three’s
violinist Warren Ellis, this is a Woyzeck for the angst-ridden
21st-century, a stunningly visceral take on Georg Büchner’s classic
tale of honorable intentions gone tragically wrong.

Frantic to
support his mistress and her young son, Woyzeck succumbs to a series of
gruesome scientific experiments which only increases his mounting
paranoia and fear that his Marie is having an affair. She is, of
course, with the Drum Major, a charismatic sadist who swings menacingly
from a trapeze, baiting and beating the hapless Woyzeck. The
black-cloaked chorus intones forebodingly, bearing witness to all that
unfolds. It’s too much. Woyzeck is pushed to the brink and, thanks to
Gardarsson and his intrepid company, we go along—mesmerized and
breathless—to the inevitable, watery finale.

The Where and When

October 15, 17, 18 at 7:30 p.m.
BAM’s Howard Gilman Opera House
Running time: 90min, no intermission
Ticket: $20, 35, 45, 60