Novecento oder Die Legende vom Ozean­pianisten

In the organizer's words:

by Alessandro Baricco - in a version by Anton Schreiber - premiere on April 17, 2024 - as part of Fokus Ukraine - European Theatre Festival "777 Days Днів Days" - Schauspielhaus, Kleines HausSchauspiel

We are in the 1920s, the golden age of jazz. The ocean liner "Virginian" is a floating city, traveling back and forth between the coasts of Europe and America. On board, the Atlantic Jazz Band plays day in, day out, for first-class tourists and third-class fortune seekers alike. Passengers from all over the world come and go, but the Atlantic Jazz Band stays and plays. Novecento is the band's pianist, and he is the best pianist the ocean has ever heard. The sounds he elicits from the piano come from other spheres, they put the listener into a trance. It is as if he is capturing the infinite richness of the world on the 88 keys of his instrument, a world that he himself has never seen and will never see. For Novecento was born on the ship, grew up as an orphan and would not leave the steamer once until it sank in the turmoil of the Second World War.