Dichter-Gila: localising schumann and heine through theatrical storytelling

This practice-based research explores the convergence of classical music, poetry, and theatre through Dichter-Gila, a reinterpretation of Robert Schumann’s song cycle Dichterliebe (A Poet’s Love), settings of poems of the German poet Heinrich Heine. Composed in 1840, Dichterliebe captures the Romantic ideals of love, irony, and disillusionment through Heine’s poetry in a psychological journey of a poet betrayed by love. Dichter-Gila transforms this narrative into a contemporary Malaysian context, reimagining the protagonist as a young artist whose emotional heartbreak unfold amidst modern social struggles, including financial deception and emotional manipulation.