Nationaltheater Mannheim / Junge Oper

Robyn Schulkowsky/Sophie Kassies

Director: Andrea Gronemeyer
Stage: Christian Thurm
Costumes: Eva Roos

Actor: Uwe Topmann
Soprano: Anne-May Krüger
Harp: Beate Anton
Trumpet: Christian Martin Kirsch
Percussion: Ellen Mayer

Far to the north where it gets never entirely dark in the summer, and never really light in the winter Oruk lives with his parents in a small, comfortable hut. Sometimes his father takes him fishin in a dog sled over the creaking ice and in the evening, when outside the wind blows and the waves of the icy sea beat against the cliffs, he lies in his warm bed and rejoices in the laughter of his parents. But one day his mother gets ill and his father is rarely at home anymore. Helplessly Oruk has to watch his mother getting worse. One night, after a quarrel between his parents, he hears a voice outside calling his name. Oruk follows the call that leads him along the coast to a rock. In a crack he finds an old hide of a seal and Oruk feels he has to bring it to his mother. As he covers her with the hide the haggardness and the wrinkles disappear from her face. Her eyes brighten, her body begins to gleam and bit after bit she turns into a seal. Oruk's father tells him the whole story: How, many years ago, he stole the skin of a beautiful seal maiden, how this maiden went with him and how they have loved each other. Now, a lot has changed.