Woyzeck in Winter, Barbican

Director Conall Morrison brings together two nineteenth-century masterpieces in Woyzeck in Winter, a musical play that combines Franz Schubert's song cycle Die Winterreise and Georg Büchner’s play Woyzeck. It comes to the Barbican after opening to glowing reviews at the Galway International arts festival.

The production grew from Morrison's fascination with the parallels between Büchner’s words and Schubert's notes: both works were left unfinished, and each deals with heartache and torment. Schubert's 24 songs accompany Büchner’s 26 scenes to reflect these similarities.

The performance allows the complementary aspects of both pieces to play off one another to delve into the obsessive thought processes of a man in the mental freefall of a nervous breakdown.

Taking the bold step of removing Schubert’s music from a recital setting and fusing it with action and drama, Woyzeck in Winter promises to bring to life the harrowing story of disturbed young soldier in an unprecedented way.