About the work
GEGENGIFT is a music-theatre project by the youth programme of Neuköllner Oper in cooperation with Technische Universität Berlin and a fungal art laboratory. Yuval Halpern composed the music, Vera Schindler wrote the text, and Bjørn de Wildt directed the production. The work combines a fictional adventure with artistic and scientific engagement with fungal mycelium and premiered at Neuköllner Oper on 3 April 2025 (running until 11 May 2025).
Plot
A city has become sick with despair and is surrounded by an ever-expanding swamp. Six young people are selected for a mission beyond the city limits to discover the source of the crisis and search for an antidote. In the swamp they encounter fantastical figures including a gambling oracle, a personified gut feeling, an ancient fungus and a tribunal presided over by Mother Nature. Their search for hope requires cooperation, networks and the willingness to confront setbacks collectively.
Cultural significance
The production connects youth music theatre with a real collaboration between artistic practice and scientific research. Mycelium functions not only as a metaphor for networking: the stage design itself makes substantial use of mycelium-based material developed in TU Berlin laboratories. GEGENGIFT therefore brings ecological material research, collective working methods and the dramatic search for hope in a time of multiple crises into the same theatrical project.