After the Flood

The only thing we have to fear is fear itself..

Franklin Delano Roosevelt

An amazing journey, through 350 years of disaster through the swamps of the Low Countries, the plantations of Indonesia and the townships of South Africa, in which theatre, war, film, symphony, racism, history, art and impossible loves are recklessly mixed.

Created by 11 composers, 1 writer, 5 musicians, 6 singers and 1 actress playing dozens of roles - from a philosophical farmer, a horny widow, a crazy police officer to traumatized survivors of some of the most insane moments in Dutch history - performed by one of the most inventive opera companies in the Netherlands.

After the flood is a multidisciplinary music theater production about fear and adversity. At the same time, this opera provides a playful overview of 350 years of Dutch history.
The work is produced by Opera Spanga and the Rosa Ensemble.
After the flood can be seen at the permanent performance location of Opera Spanga, Spanga.

After the flood presents personal intimate histories in the context of major social events. Many of the problems of our society, a society drowning in disinformation from the digital weight of the present, are due to ignorance of history. This ignorance can get in the way of finding the right solutions.

1672, the year that the Republic of the Seven United Netherlands faltered under attack from forces from within and outside the country, is the starting point of the journey in which the public is companion of a famous painter and his descendants. For three and a half centuries, the family members struggle to keep their heads above water as everything around them collapses.

The six scenes played live were composed by Floris van Bergeijk, Enrico Ferri, Jildou Bakker, Martijn Jongman, Wybe Wiersma and Vlad Chleck. Except for Van Bergeijk, they are all students at the conservatories of Groningen, Zwolle and Tilburg. The libretto was written by the American writer Jonathan Levi. Six orchestral intermezzos can be heard prior to the intimate live scenes. These symphonic works follow both the political and cultural march of history and have been recorded by Noord Nederlands Orkest.

After the flood continues the successful collaboration between Corina van Eijk (director) with Van Bergeijk and Levi. In his libretti for Opera Spanga, Levi juxtaposed modern and distant Dutch history in the Opera Spanga production Stuyvesant zero (2012) and the opera feature film The Other (2020). Van Bergeijk's music investigates connections between the classical music of Verdi and Mozart and the contemporary timbres of electronics and percussion. Van Eijk's sense of psychology, history and art has led her and her artistic team to combine cinema with the natural beauty of the countryside in live stage and opera films. Tjalling Wijnstra conducts this eclectic and playful music mix.

The songs are sung in English and the surtitles are in Dutch.