SYNOPSIS

Synopsis by Luc Joosten

The serail is a city. It is a life of constant running. There is no time for today. People try to reach and love each other, try to escape. But when the evening falls, there is only loneliness and emptiness.

The serail is a prison of solitude.

1st ACT In the solitude of the city, Belmonte is longing for Konstanze, his lost beloved. The old Osmin is insulting everybody for the harm they did to him. Belmonte suffers from the loneliness and wants to see Konstanze soon. A group of people passes by - demonstrating and hoping a certain Bassa Selim will lead them to better times. Konstanze remembers her youth, and thinks about her love: she also suffers from the separation with Belmonte. Between Belmonte, the young soldier Pedrillo and the drunk Osmin, there is a discussion that leads to a fight.

2nd ACT Blonde reflects on her relationship with Pedrillo. It has ended in a brutal way. She looks for caring words of love. Konstanze is still in pain about her lost love. She cannot tell how much her soul is wounded. She expects more from love then it can give back. Blonde remembers the tenderness of an evening with her beloved. She hopes that she will be relieved of her pain soon. Pedrillo has to leave for a final battle and hopes to find courage in his prayers. He meets again with Osmin and both of them start to drink. Belmonte thinks there is hope. He is excited about meeting his Konstanze again. Finally, the two couples dream about being reunited: “The loneliness is forgotten, the wounds are healing”. But what will reality bring?

3rd ACT The anonymous waiting for something that has no name. Although his disappointment about their reunion is not over, Belmonte confirms his faith in love, he keeps on dreaming his dream. Pedrillo sings about a brave soldier that saved a brutalized princess from the prison; it is his own story: how he saved Blonde from loneliness and boredom. Will they finally be able to marry? How long will it last? Osmin cannot help but laugh about having faith in love. He is the black demon of solitude, the one who will tell the real truth about love and existence. It is meaningless, hopeless to try to revive a lost love. But whoever gave up their past will never find the way to themselves again. Belmonte and Konstanze try to overcome the past by their belief in the ideal of being reunited in love after death.

Ich würd‘ auf meinem Pfad‘ mit Tränen Oft hin zum fernen Ende seh‘n, Säh‘ ich nicht Kenner meiner Leiden So mitleidsvoll am Wege steh‘n.

I’d take my path with tearful eyes Cast on its distant end, If there were not my sorrow’s friend Benevolent beside.