Robert Dorsay

The delightful Johann Strauss comic opera Die Fledermaus was mercilessly lampooned in this truly bizarre production. For starters, a framing device has been added: After appearing in 300 consecutive appearances of Fledermaus (which translates as The Bat) the lead tenor (Georg Alexander) imagines that he's seeing bats everywhere. Driven a bit over the edge by all this, he falls asleep and has a nightmare about the opera, with a group of non-singers cast in the leading roles. The original libretto about romantic assignations, political imprisonments and mistaken identity is burlesqued to the hilt: at one point, the hero finds out that his prison cell is surrounded by rubber tubes!

À Londres, en 1840, une chanteuse à la réputation sulfureuse, Gloria Vane, a une liaison avec un aristocrate ruiné, Finsbury, qui falsifie un chèque afin de couvrir ses dettes alors qu'il est sur le point de partir en Australie. Pour sauver l' honneur et la carrière de son amant, Gloria s'accuse et est condamnée à la déportation au bagne de Paramatta, à Sidney. Elle se retrouve donc dans la même ville que son amant qui flirte autant avec les femmes mariées qu'avec la jolie fille du gouverneur, prête à l'épouser.

A woman discovers after she has just married him, that her husband is abusive, and she tries to get away.

About how the British broke the Brazilian monopoly on natural rubber. The storyline suggests a complex relation between adventure, military conquest and imperialism.

A comedy directed by Alwin Elling.