Richard Strauss’s Salome, first performed in 1905, is based on Oscar Wilde’s play Salomé (1891). Both works shocked audiences at the time with their frank treatment of sex, violence, and religion. For this production, director Noa Naamat and designer Bettina John began by asking what still has the power to shock today. Beneath the opera’s biblical story lies a family marked by abuse, manipulation, and a profound breakdown of trust. In many ways, these themes feel as relevant now as they did over a century ago.
The action is set in the wreckage of a crashed plane. The disaster creates an immediate sense of crisis and strips away the social structures that normally keep behaviour in check. In this exposed and unstable environment, long buried tensions rise to the surface. Rather than focusing on Salome as a dangerous femme fatale, this interpretation looks at what happens when someone who has been controlled and abused decides to fight back. The result is a reading of the opera that places family dynamics and the collapse of moral values at the centre of the story.
Musical direction: Sebastian Lang-Lessing
Director: Noa Naamat
Set and costumes: Bettina John
Lighting design: Noa Naamat, Hans-Joachim Köster
Dramaturg: Thomas Rufin
Music team: Steffen Müller-Gabriel, Christopher Bruckman, Nikita Sorokin, Makoto Suzuki, Andreas Vogelsberger
Regieassistenz und Abendspielleitung: Mareike Teichgräber
Inspizienz: Bettina Grüger
CAST
Herodes: KS Richard van Gemert
Herodias: Angela Davis
Salome: Serenad Uyar
Jochanaan: Insu Hwang
Narraboth: Anton Kuzenok
Ein Page der Herodias: Hyejun Melania Kwon
Erster Jude: Matthew Overmeyer
Zweiter Jude: Johannes Richter
Dritter Jude: Nathan Fischer
Vierter Jude: Jorge Luis Martínez Zazueta
Fünfter Jude: Sebastian Joest
Erster Soldat: Hagen-Goar Bornmann
Erster Nazarener / Ein Cappadocier: Dong-Won Seo
Zweiter Soldat: Tom Mehnert
Zweiter Nazarener: Andrew James Neill
Ein Sklave: Elizabeth Pilon
Photographs by Thilo Beu and Leszek Januszewski
