Following hot on the heels of his Saul and The Nose, Australian director Barrie Kosky’s wildly popular production of Mozart’s The Magic Flute – with its stunning animations and silent film aesthetic – is coming to Australia for performances at both the Perth and Adelaide Festivals.

Magic Flute, Mozart, Komische OperBarrie Kosky’s production of The Magic Flute for Komische Oper Berlin. Photo © Iko Freese / drama-berlin.de

The production was made for Kosky’s Komische Oper in Berlin and created in collaboration with the innovative British theatre company 1927 (who have had three shows, Between the Devil and the Deep Blue Sea, The Animals and Children Took to the Streets and Golem tour to Australia), combining projected animations and live performers in what the UK’s Guardian described as a “manic dream”. Since its premiere in Berlin in 2012, the production has played across the world, including in the USA, Russia, China and the UK, and now Australia.

The need for a Magic Flute in the Komische Oper’s repertoire happened to coincide with Kosky seeing a production by 1927 – Between the Devil and the Deep Blue Sea – in Hannover, and he soon enlisted the company for The Magic...