Andreas Dorau & Gereon Klug & Patrick Wengenroth

A musical dramedy about Hamburg’s music subculture, gentrification and the search for identity.

Musicals are considered late capitalism’s answer to over 2,000 years of theater history. Now a team around dada pop-star Andreas Dorau, writer Gereon Klug and director Patrick Wengenroth has assembled with the goal of exploring the subversive beginnings of the genre while, in their humorous way, carefully avoiding the usual parameters of musicals. KÖNIG DER MÖWEN (SEAGULL KING) tells the story of Hamburg record-store owner and seagull-fan Hans, who is trying to hold his ground financially and spiritually in precarious times. One day, the city of Hamburg proposes him a Faustian bargain that could change everything for him. The work charmingly explores the contradictory relationship between gentrification, subculture and city marketing with a high-gloss cast (incl. »Tatort« inspector Eva Löbau, Deutsches Theater ensemble-member Daniel Hoevels and Schaubühne resident Andreas Schröders). It is orchestrated by members of the Hamburg music world. At a moment when subcultural spaces suffer from musical-ization and eventization, Dorau’s and Klug’s musical comes at just the right time – using gentle irony to further tighten the screw of contradictions. Just in time for the premiere, a record with the songs of the musical will be released on Tapete Records.

Talk on Fri 10th August

KÖNIG DER MÖWEN production leaflet (PDF download)