Berzerkergäng by Kirsten Brandt

10+ actors  (running time:  2 hour 15 minutes)

Inspired by Richard Wagner’s opera Der Ring des Nibelungen, Snorri Sturluson’s Poetic & Prose Eddas, The Volsungasaga, and The Nibelungenlied, Berzerkergäng is a contemporary telling of the quest for love and power.  When the dwarf Alberich steals a source of unlimited power – the business world goes berserk.  As Giants and Gods wage corporate warfare, a Valkyrie named Brunhilde must choose between obedience & love, forgiveness & rage, and desire & truth, even if it means her own doom.

Berzerkergäng received its world premiere at Sledgehammer Theatre, February 2003 directed by Michael Severance and Jessa Watson; Scenic and Lighting Design by David Lee Cuthbert, Costumes by Mary Larson, sound by Jeff Mocuks, and stage management by Rosalee Barrientos.

Original Cast: Kati Behumi, Julianne Eggold, Chris Hatcher, Janet Hayatshati, Sean Jeffries, Laura Lee Juliano, Nicole Monica, Sara Plaisted, Kim Strassburger, Brennan Taylor, David Tierney, Jason Waller, and Ruff Yeager

San Diego Playbill Award for “Outstanding New Play” and a KPBS Award for “Outstanding Production.”  

Praise for Berzerkergäng:

Sledgehammer Theatre’s season finale is a massive undertaking…  playwright (and artistic director) Kirsten Brandt and her collaborators deliver a mostly cogent and sometimes stunning, evening of theatre.  … there are moments, lingering ones, in which the production comes close to fulfilling Wagner’s ideal of combining of performing arts (music, drama, décor, dance) into a total theatre experience.    -CRITIC’S CHOICE, San Diego Union-Tribune

With all her poetic ramblings, wild imaginings and topical references, Brandt  has stayed surprisingly close to the original story. Whether you’re knowledgeable or not, it’s all there: the dwarf, the dragon, the giants, even Valhalla, which has morphed from a mythological hall of heroes into a 98-story office complex. And it all works excellently…the stylized, provocative,  choreographically precise direction of Jessa Watson and Michael Severance has Brandt’s creative energy all over it. This is inventive theater of mythic proportion… brash, bold and courageous.   -KPBS