← Productions · STOPERA support · Premiere 2027

We Expected the Disaster… but not the salamanders!

A political, ecological opera by - porte renaud -, after Karel Čapek's War with the Newts: a productivist humanity exploits builder-salamanders who eventually rise up. Extractivism, ecological crisis and class struggle echo one another in a fable for our present. Three acts, 2h25, eleven voices and three musicians. Driven by Cie Trilobite, the project is accompanied by STOPERA! in a first development phase, ahead of its premiere at the Tête à Tête festival (London) in 2027.

At the heart of the project, fieldwork with communities. A doctor of philosophy committed to popular education, - porte renaud - has led, from 2021 to 2026, an action-research project in the Briand neighbourhood of Mulhouse: hundreds of hours of workshops, facilitation, exchanges and rehearsals, to form a genuine “aesthetic community” (PhD 2025, a situated reading of John Dewey). The performers are not a chorus in the traditional sense — they embody that community. The set extends the approach: materials are gathered on site, with residents and local associations, at each host venue — ecological re-use and concrete local roots.