C A R P A T H I A
The Myth of the Undead

Premiere on 25. November 2026

Choreography Edward Clug. Music Milko Lazar.

Duration est. 2 hours 25 minutes

1. Akt est. 06:00 pm - 06:55 pm Interval est. 06:55 pm - 07:25 pm 2. Akt est. 07:25 pm - 08:25 pm

On the very first page of Bram Stoker’s novel Dracula (1897), a meticulously described journey begins in Munich. More than a century later, C A R P A T H I A is also set in Munich – not as a simple retelling, but as a reimagining in the spirit of a return. Edward Clug interweaves the narrative with his own biographical background. The choreographer, who hails from Transylvania, turns away from the commercial imagery that has accumulated in modern culture around the myth of the undead. Instead, he reclaims what was once borrowed from his homeland and returns it to its place of origin: the Carpathian landscape with its archaic rituals, its cyclical sense of time and its pre-modern understanding of the sacred.

C A R P A T H I A – The Myth of the Undead unfolds as a sequence of ritual states in which meaning arises through transformation – an act of return and silent purification. At its heart lies a rupture: the loss of balance between humanity and the sacred order in which they live. Immortality appears not as power or seduction, but as a burden; evil is not personified, but perceived as a consequence of this loss. The body becomes the primary locus where this rupture manifests itself and is endured.

Inspired by Stoker’s novel and its influential film adaptations, particularly those by Friedrich Wilhelm Murnau (1922) and Werner Herzog (1979), Clug engages in a dialogue between borrowed myths and rediscovered rituals, between exposed and transformed darkness. The music by Milko Lazar, composed especially for this production, shapes time as pulse and breath, thereby reinforcing the work’s progression from rupture to transformation.

Act 1

A man mourns the death of the woman he loves. Unable to accept her loss, he turns against God, renouncing his faith and condemning himself to an existence beyond death. Centuries will pass, but neither time nor eternity can free him from the memory of his lost love. Hundreds of years later, a young Traveller prepares to leave his Wife behind. Their tender farewell is overshadowed by the uncertainty of his journey to Transylvania, where he has been summoned by a mysterious host. Deep in the Carpathian Mountains, the Traveller encounters a world governed by ancient rituals and superstitions. The villagers’ strange hospitality turns to fear at the mention of his mysterious host. Only an old woman remains, offering him an unusual remedy and a gesture of protection before he continues his journey. Elsewhere, a Madman begins to exhibit increasingly disturbing behaviour. The Protector, who watches over him, observes with growing concern the strange changes taking hold of his patient, unaware of the invisible force gradually drawing him into its power. At the end of his journey, the Traveller finally encounters his mysterious host: the Undead. Beneath their seemingly courteous exchange, an unsettling fascination develops. Through a small token of affection carried by the Traveller, the Undead discovers the existence of his Wife, awakening a desire that transcends centuries. Far away, the Wife shares moments of youthful intimacy with her closest Friend. Yet an invisible presence begins to disturb their innocent world. Meanwhile, the Traveller gradually realizes that he has entered a world from which he may never return. He witnesses the cruelty of his host and the suffering inflicted upon the surrounding villages. His attempts to resist prove futile. In a final ritual, the Traveller is forced into the world of the Undead. Marked by his host and imprisoned in a coffin, he finds himself suspended between life and death, while the Undead turns his attention toward the woman waiting for him.

Act 2

The Traveller is discovered and subjected to a painful ritual of purification. His return to the world of the living culminates in a reunion with his Wife, but the experience has left an indelible mark upon him. Meanwhile, a ship carrying a mysterious cargo crosses the sea. Its crew gradually disappears, leaving the vessel to reach its destination with death aboard. The Undead has arrived in the world of the living. A strange affliction begins to spread. The Wife’s closest Friend falls gravely ill, while the Madman’s connection to his invisible master grows increasingly powerful. Despite the Protector’s efforts, the mysterious illness claims its victim, and fear gradually takes hold of society. As death spreads, the boundary between the living and the Undead begins to dissolve. The world is drawn into a collective state of uncertainty, where desire, fear, and mortality become inseparable. The Undead is drawn toward the Traveller’s Wife, whose presence awakens the distant memory of a love he once lost. Their encounter becomes an almost sacred moment of recognition, in which centuries seem to dissolve and the boundaries between past and present, memory and desire, begin to fade. Yet something within her, too, seems to respond to this mysterious connection, as though she were remembering something she had never lived. When the Undead vanishes, a shadow remains, threatening to consume her. The Protector struggles desperately to save her, but it is the Madman who unexpectedly intervenes. Abandoned by the master to whom he has devoted himself, he turns against the Undead, saving the Wife at the cost of his own life. The Wife survives, but the encounter has left its mark. The Protector attempts to shield her from the forces that threaten to claim her, while recognizing that her mysterious connection to the Undead may be their only means of finding him. A final confrontation brings the Undead’s centuries-long existence to an end. Yet his defeat is also his liberation, releasing him from the curse born of his refusal to accept death. A final confrontation brings the Undead’s centuries-long existence to an end. Yet his defeat is also his liberation, releasing him from the curse born of his refusal to accept death. Snow begins to fall over the Carpathian landscape, slowly covering the traces of what has passed.