Spectra Ensemble

Collision

Directed by: Cecilia Stinton

“Collision is ahead of us. The end of the world is near.”

Berlin, 1928: a strange Green Globe is on course to collide with Earth, and panic is rife in the streets. With lovers star-crossed and citizens inciting revolt, only the High Commissioner of Order can organise the final curtain. Irreverent cabaret-opera Collision begs the question: how would you spend your world’s end weekend?

Part absurdist science-fiction, part sultry cabaret, Collision is the first and only opera work from avant-garde artist Kurt Schwitters. Conceived in 1928 as a Dada-esque piece combining hyperactive farce and nihilistic satire, it was never produced in his lifetime.

Now, 90 years on, Spectra Ensemble recreates Collision as a fully-staged opera, set to new cabaret and jazz influenced music by Lewis Coenen-Rowe, and with a design inspired by Schwitters’ own brand of collage art.