Press Text

MITOSIS PRESS TEXT ENGLISH

​

 

The story being told here could be that of a close friend or even someone you barely know….perhaps your neighbor. It starts with an ordinary life and is disrupted by a visit to the doctor. What follows is a person betrayed by their own body, objectified by biomedical reductionism, and struggling to live at the very moment one must learn to let go.

 

However, written inside the lines of this story is yet another. That of a once-forbidden substance, now making a spectacular comeback through groundbreaking research showing its propensity to ease the fear of dying: the hallucinogen LSD. 

 

While critiquing the medicalization of illness and pop wellness ideology, the musical narrative of MITOSIS unfolds within the intimacy of talk therapy and hallucinogenic revelation. Designed and composed by an international team of transdisciplinary artists and starring theater newcomer Annie Goodchild (Post Modern Jukebox, Punch Drunk’s “Sleep No More), director Brandy Butler unifies a rich mix of musical styles, scientific research, and voices to create an original and moving contemporary Opera. 

 

In a culture that pushes death into the darkest corners of consciousness, MITOSIS forces us to confront the multiplicity at the heart of living and dying and reframes healing through a process of endless division in which the self is reconfigured through contact with life’s reflections of care. 

​

CAST:

 

Performers: Annie Goodchild, Brandy Butler, David Attenberger, 

Ivy Montiero, Ruth Schwegler

 

 

Director and Concept: Brandy Butler

Music Composition: Brandy Butler, Annie Goodchild, Ramón Oliveras

Musical Production: Ramón Oliveras, Daniel Eaton

Video and Inclusive Subtitling Design: Juan Ferrari

Set Design: Bettina Kirmair 

Costumes: Paula Henrike Herrmann

Dramaturgy: Eneas Nikolai Prawdzic

Production Assistants: Stanford Chen, Anora Ismailova

Production Management: Giordana Patumi

 

Stage Construction: Jonas Borner

Technical Director: Emiliano Larrea

Sound and Video Technician: Emiliano Larrea

Light Technician: Corinne Werffeli

Subtitles: Liam Rooney, Eneas Prawdzic

Music Subtitles: Rodrigo Aravena

Access Expert: Lorena Dellenbach

Outside Eye: Bendix Fesefeldt, Fynn Malte Schimidt, Kathrin Vesser, Noa Winter

 

 

Mix/Master: Jan Wagner

Additional Music Production: Ale Hug

 

Additional Musicians for recordings: 

Claude Stucki, guitar

Luzius Schuler, piano and synths

Mo Meyer, bass

Andreas Achermann, hammond

Ale Hug, Vibraphone and Piano

Stefan Rusconi, Piano

Tobias Preisig,Violin

 

 

 

Brass Quintet Arrangement: Nuño Fernández Ezquerra

Brass Quintet:

Maria Puertas Malagarriga - Tuba

Aram Montagud Garcia - Trombone

Adrià Adell Segarra - French Gorn

Álvar Monfort Ferrando - Trumpet

Marc Mena Ribera - Trumpet

Brass Quintett Recording Engineer: Dave Bianchi

 

 

Strings

Lisa Bause (violinist)

Dave Bianchi ( Producer/Arranger)

 

Co Production Partners:

Gessneralle

De Singel

Kaserne Basel

Theatre Vidy

Theater Freiburg

 

Supported by:

Stadt Zürich Kultur

Kanton Zürich Kultur

Pro Helvetia

ENOA

Stiftung Anne-Marie Schindler

Landis & Gyr Stiftung

Ernst und Olga Gübler-Halbützel Stiftung

Theologisches Theater Stiftung

Stiftung Phono Produzierende

Ernst Göhner Stiftung

​

​Last updated: 2.4.2025

 

TOUR DATES

 

PREMIERE 3.4.2025

GESSNERALLEE ZH

 

5.4.2025 

8.4.2025 

10.4.2025 GESNERALLEE ZH

 

23.4.2025 

24.4.2025 KASERNE BASEL

 

4.12.2025

5.12.2025 THEATRE DU VIDY 

 

30.1.2026

31.1.2026 DE SINGEL (BELGIUM)

 

THEATER SEASON 26-27 

 

THEATER FREIBURG (DATES TBC)

 

For inquiries: BrandyButler@mac.com