“An act of feminine imagination.”
ORITO – ±75 minutes
This new robot opera by Ulrike Quade Company, in collaboration with opera director Lisenka Heijboer-Castanon and composer Stephanie Pan, draws inspiration from Orito, a character in David Mitchell’s novel “The Thousand Autumns of Jacob de Zoet”.
In the book, Orito is a midwife and the only non-prostitute allowed into the Dutch East India Company trading post on Dejima Island, Japan. She is taken to a monastery to assist with births. Upon discovering the grim fate of the children she helps deliver, she decides to fight back.
Our interpretation explores existential questions about life and reimagines society’s future. At its core, Orito is an act of feminine imagination, featuring five female performers, a Bunraku-inspired puppet, and a KUKA robot.
Treating the KUKA as a musical instrument, Stephanie Pan’s composition blends expressive voices, synths, industrial beats, and machinery sounds into a soundscape that is both powerful and delicate.
Credits
Director: Ulrike Quade
Co-Director: Lisenka Heijboer
Assistant Director: Loulou Sjerps
Dramaturge: Maaike Bleeker
Composition, Musical Direction: Stephanie Pan
Scenography: Hendrik Walther
Lighting Design: Floriaan Ganzevoort
Puppets: Hiroko Igeta, Watanabe Kazunori
Performers: Jolanda van den Berg, Anat Spiegel, Rox(ana) Verwey, Ishtar Bakhtali, Roberta Maimone
Production: Isha Plug
Technical Production: Niels Runderkamp
Production Manager: Isha Plug
Robotics: Rick van Dugteren
Lighting: Titus Duitshof
Sound: Jaap Schledorn
A production by Ulrike Quade Company
Quotes from the audience
“A true spectacle that dazzles, while at the same time providing space to think and feel.”
“Wonderful to learn to see industrial robotics differently.”
“So special to use the sounds of a KUKA robot as a musical instrument.”
