by Robert Wilson and Rufus Wainwright
lyrics Jutta Ferbers
German translation Christa Schuenke and Martin Flörchinger

with
Christina Drechsler - boy
Anke Engelsmann - secretary
Ruth Glöss - jester
Anna Graenzer - boy
Ursula Höpfner -Tabori - black lady
Traute Hoess - rival
Inge Keller - Shakespeare
Sylvie Rohrer - young poet
Dejan Bucin - gentleman/queen
JürgenHoltz - Elizabeth I/Elisabeth II
Christopher Nell - lady/Eva
Sabin Tambrea - woman/queen
Georgios Tsivanoglou - Cupid

and
Georgette Dee, Winfried Goos

musicians
Stefan Rager - music director and drums
Hans-Jörn Brandenburg - piano
Domenic Bouffard - guitar
Andreas Henze - bass
Isang Quartett :
Yun Ui Lee - first violin
SanghaHwang - second violin
Min Kim - viola
Yeo Hun Yun - cello

direction, scenery and lighting design Robert Wilson
music Rufus Wainwright
costumes Jacques Reynaud
co-direction Ann-Christin Rommen
scene collaborator Serge von Arx
costume collaborator Yashi Tabassomi
text composition Jutta Ferbers
music direction Hans-Jörn Brandenburg, Stefan Rager
lighting Andreas Fuchs
additional music Bryan Senti
assistant director Michael Götz
prompter Barbara Matte
stage manager Harald Boegen, Rainer B. Manja
technical director Stephan Besson
chief stagehand Edmund Stier
production manager Eric Witzke
chief electrician Ulrich Eh
chief tailor and makeup Barbara Naujok, Ulrike Heinemann
sound Axel Bramann

personal assistant to Robert Wilson Daniel Schulze

copyright
Christa Schuenke; Gustav Kiepenheuer Bühnenvertriebs-GmbH, Berlin;
Martin Flörchinger; Frieling-Verlag, Berlin
thanks to Monteverdi, John Dowland and Michel Legrand for some musical sequences

produced from Berliner Ensemble
project and artistic coordination by Change Performing Arts
Italian exclusive for Spoleto53 Festival dei 2Mondi

to two years after the triumphant success ofOpera from three-money, the Berliner Ensemble and Robert Wilson present the Italian premiere at the Spoleto Festival of Shakespeare's Sonnets, with original music by Canadian songwriter Rufus Wainwright. Staged to Berlin in 2009 on the fourth centenary of the publication of the sonnets, for this show Wilson selected twenty-five sonnets from the 154 written from Shakespeare and took on the challenge of staging one of the English playwright's rare works not born for the theater.His direction-in his usual perfection-plays with irony in confusing genres. to Stage stars such as Inge Keller, Jürgen Holtz, Traute Hoess and Sylvie Rohrer are joined by Georgette Dee - a celebrated German cabaret performer - and the extraordinary actors of the Berliner Ensemble company who act and sing, bringing the Bard's immortal verses to the stage.Wilson stages various Shakespearean characters, from the sprite to the jester, from Cupid to the mysterious black lady, from the Queen of England to Shakespeare himself. The director's ability to "tell" through images is put at the service of the Shakespearean verses, aided by the music of Rufus Wainwright, who for this'opera used different styles of music that help take the audience on a dreamlike journey outside of time.A theatrical premiere that is already a classic.