Two men and a woman sunbathe on the beach of Lampedusa, just typical holidaymakers enjoying the pampered lifestyle of a Club Med resort. They seduce each other and drink cocktails deep into the night. A hangover sparks off a minor existential crisis, with polonaises and ever more cocktails as the only answer.

Based on ‘The Seven Deadly Sins’ by Hieronymus Bosch, the libretto is written in Dimitri Verhulst’s characteristic style and set to music by the LOD-composer Vasco Mendonça. For the occasion of the 500^th anniversary of Bosch’s death, the stage director Kris Verdonck takes the notion of hell on earth as his point of departure, viewing our present-day world through Bosch’s eyes. What does hell look like today? Which place is today’s ‘False Paradise’? Sunbathing on Lampedusa’s glorious beach with the refugees washing up on the shore: this is surely about as close as it gets. In Bosch Beach the false paradise of the resorts and Bosch’s hell on earth seamlessly coalesce.

Production: LOD muziektheater – Co-production: A Two Dogs Company, Jheronimus Bosch 500 Foundation, House on Fire, Teatro Maria Matos, Kaaitheater, Asko|Schönberg, Concertgebouw Brugge, Mousonturm Frankfurt (tbc), Vlaams Fonds voor de Letteren, Fundaçao Calouste Gulbenkian. A House on Fire co-production; with the support of the Culture Programme of the European Union.

Artists

VASCO MENDONÇA
Bosch Beach

ASKO|SCHÖNBERG
LOD Muziektheater
conductor Etienne Siebens
singers Marion Tassou (sopraan), Rodrigo Ferreira (contratenor) en Damien Pass (bariton)
libretto Dimitri Verhulst
direction Kris Verdonck
dramaturgy Kristof Van Baarle
costumes Ann Bruegelmans
light Jan Van Gijsel