MANGA OPERA
Music. Manga. Machines.
WAR SUM UP is Hotel Pro Forma’s visually striking manga opera about the ever-changing nature of war and its relationship to humanity. Inspired by Japanese culture and its powerful combination of poetry, pop, precision and brutality, the work brings together music, manga imagery, light and the voices of the Latvian Radio Choir.
Three figures move through its fragmented world: the Soldier, returning from war with PTSD; the Warrior, killed in battle and condemned to wander as a ghost; and the Spy, captured and transformed into a superwoman in order to escape. Their stories are framed by the Woman in Yellow, the Gamemaster who both initiates war and calmly returns to everyday life as if nothing has happened.
The music combines newly composed classical and electronic music with chamber pop and electronica, while texts drawn from Japanese Noh theatre are sung in Japanese. Large-scale manga drawings, war imagery and an intense interplay of light and shadow create a constantly shifting visual landscape in which human beings and machines seem to merge.
Created by Kirsten Dehlholm and Willie Flindt, WAR SUM UP remains a powerful and unsettling meditation on the nature of war — its violence, its seduction and its endless capacity for reinvention.
Running time: 80 minutes, no interval.
Language: Japanese, with English surtitles.
CREDITS
Performed by: Latvian Radio Choir
Conductor: Kaspars Putniņš / Sigvards Kļava
Director: Kirsten Dehlholm
Music: The Irrepressibles, Santa Ratniece & Gilbert Nouno
Libretto: Adapted from classical Noh theatre by Willie Flindt
Concept: Willie Flindt & Kirsten Dehlholm
Musical Direction: Kaspars Putniņš
Costumes: Henrik Vibskov
Lighting Design: Jesper Kongshaug
Set Design: Kirsten Dehlholm, Willie Flindt & Jesper Kongshaug
Manga Drawings: Hikaru Hayashi
Director’s Assistant: Jon R. Skulberg
Production: Hotel Pro Forma
Co-production: Latvian Radio Choir, Latvian National Opera & Hotel Pro Forma
In cooperation with: Ultima Oslo Contemporary Music Festival · Concert Hall Aarhus · Royal Danish Theatre · Odense Theatre
Supported by: Nordic Culture Point · Bikubenfonden · Oticon Fonden · Konsul Georg Jorck and Hustru Emma Jorcks Fond
Performance Partner: MAC Cosmetics