In late April 2017, WORM’s UBIK was occupied by some very sportily dressed people. Has UBIK resulted in a time vortex and teleported us on the set of a Madonna video clip? Are we making our own WORM aerobics video? Not at all! Club Gewalt have been rehearsing its new opera ‘Yuri.’ We went to have a look and asked Club Gewalt what they’ve been up to.
Club Gewalt is a Rotterdam-based group who makes, among other things, theatre plays and shows. Club Gewalt has been on the WORM stage several times before, but this time they used UBIK solely for rehearsing their opera. It’s a workout opera about Dutch sportsman Yuri van Gelder; you’ll remember, the guy who got busted for cocaine use and partying during an Olympic tournament. They took all the elements of a classical opera and replaced those with modern elements. Don’t expect a seemingly never ending dramatic narrative about love and despair, but fluorescent outfits and modern beats in a story about ‘Icarus with a death wish.’
Some members of Club Gewalt were involved the very beginning of WORM’s UBIK, mainly in the development of the idea of UBIK as a creating-space. UBIK is not only a place to show works of art (performance, theatre, music, visual) but also a place to create and discuss art. Club Gewalt had the opportunity to use the Black Hole for this. They don’t have their own space so when they make an opera, they need to have a space to make and rehears their show. When Club Gewalt started their residency in WORM in April, they had their written script and music – but all the choreography and finetuning was done here in WORM. ‘Yuri’ was therefore completed in the “Black Hole” of UBIK.
Club Gewalt will perform their piece in the Ro Theater during the Operadagen Rotterdam (opera days). WORM was also a location of the Operadagen with ‘A different night at the opera’ on the 18th of May 2017, in the entire Avantgardistic State.