This theatre play ‘Come on, let’s look for treasure’ is for kids from the ages of approximately three to seven. It is adapted from the well-know original by Janosch and is in Swiss German. In this adventure story a bear and a tiger go on a treasure hunt and meet some funny characters on route, but eventually learn that the best thing to have is not gold but a good friend. It is creatively produced by the young director Sandra Förnbacher, making good use of simple colourful props, and keeping up the momentum with live music, including guitar, piano and some jolly songs. The kids were mesmerised.

 Performances are on most Sundays at 3pm. See www.foernbacher.ch

Director Tom Ryser’s ‘Leiderabend’ is funny and highly enjoyable, with a good selection of song and versatile singing. The wholly female cast perform songs from different epochs, different genres and different languages: varying from Allegri’s Miserere to the Beatles’ Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds. All of which are tenuously linked by the story that Basel and the world are no more. The ladies find themselves somewhere between heaven and earth in the waiting rooms for Souls; dressed curiously in white raincoats and equipped with white umbrellas.

 I particularly liked the inventive staging and this curious mix of singers, from different musical backgrounds. The cast included two marvellous singers from the Musical Hair, who are both natural comics. The other ladies are from Basel’s opera chorus, singing an amazing range of semi-pop, semi-rock, and classical music. In addition, the ‘Mädchen Kantorei’ (girls’ choir) sings from the Gallery up behind the audience, with their faces projected onto balloons over the stage. They have great fun teasing the Souls who are desperate to understand where they are going and what on earth is going on.

 While there’s a small amount of dialogue in German linking the songs, the majority of the songs are in English, so whatever your language skills, you’ll find this an entertaining evening.

 The last performances are 7 & 12 March, so don’t miss it! Check out: www.theatre-basel.ch for dates and performance times till then.

This is Janáček’s darkest opera. It’s based on a tale by Dostoevsky from his autobiographical evocation of prison life. The stories are presented as a series of monologues by individual prisoners.

Director Calixto Bieito, the enfant terrible of European opera who directed Lulu last season, provides an imaginative production with a lot of dramatic action. The staging effectively conjures up the misery and poverty of the prisoners lives, where life is cheap. There’s an undercurrent of violence which rears up at the slightest provocation, bordering on madness. Each prisoner has a sad tale to tell, and the excellent stage performances by the whole cast accentuates the human tragedy. Calixto Bieito allows the audience no relief. Even the supposedly festive second act where the prisoners improvise two plays is undercut by sadism and perversity.

 The orchestral accompaniment is beautiful and highly accessible, which is in stark contrast to the difficult thematic of the opera as a whole and the recitative-style solos. Through the rattle of unusual percussion instruments, we hear the clattering of prisoners’ chains. This sound and the gloom of the prisoner’s hopeless lives remains with us long after we’ve left the auditorium. The audience’s somewhat subdued reaction at curtain call was decidedly positive; Calixto Bieito in particular receiving accolades.

The opera is sung in Czech with German subtitles. Performance dates are 10/14/22/30 Nov., 10/27/29 Jan. and 5/13/17/19 Feb.

www.theater-basel.ch