Igor Bauersima

Leif loves Helena. Now, it is said she died. Leif can’t believe it. His parents and friends try to convince him of her death. After all, Helena left a farewell note. Leif doesn’t want to believe it. He starts searching for his lover. Disappears. His friends eventually find him in a completely deserted place. Leif seems confused. He’s talking to an invisible person, he’s scaring them. They overpower him and bring him to an institution. But even there, Leif can’t be calmed. He’s hearing Helena’s voice, even seeing her. She’s coming to visit him. With her, he escapes his prison…

One is trained in believing that invisible people only exist in the delusions of the mentally ill. But in “Rage of Life”, this explanation isn’t enough. When the plot increasingly seems to overcome the limits of plausibility and things happen that transcend the human imagination, it happens on purpose. Maybe Helena is real and alive, and the living dead are the ones denying her existence? In the end Helena, whether dead or alive, turns out to be the incorporation of a happy, fulfilled and proud life without compromises. She is what the rage of life at the beginning of our existence wants us all to become: FREE.

The opera The Rage of Life was first performed on 12.11.2010 at the Staatsoper Stuttgart in co-production with De Vlaamse Opera Antwerpen and Gent. Igor Bauersima adapted the libretto into a play.