The Seven
Deadly Sins

A journey through the mortal sins  

Anna and her sister are from Louisiana. To support their family, they travel to seven American cities in order to earn enough money over seven years to buy a house on the Mississippi River. Anna wants to provide for her family without committing any of the deadly sins. This proves to be impossible. During their journey, they encounter all seven of them: sloth, pride, wrath, gluttony, lust, greed and envy. 

Anna and her sister of the same name are two sides of the same person. The one is beautiful and emotional, the other practical and sensible. The one is sung by Eli Kristin Hanssveen of the Norwegian National Opera, the other danced by Ida Haugen. 

Stark performance 

The Seven Deadly Sins was Hanne Tømta’s direction debut at the Oslo Opera House, performed in front of cameras during the pandemic. The stark and dark production was described by Aksel Tollåli in Aftenposten as delightfully sinful, but also brutal in both song and dance. He concludes: «Once again, the National Opera manages to show – this time with director Hanne Tømta – that good storytelling does not need big, flashy sets.» 

Weill and Brecht’s final collaboration 

The Seven Deadly Sins is the brainchild of the dynamic duo Bertolt Brecht and Kurt Weill, who experienced their breakthrough together with The Threepenny Opera in 1928. The Seven Deadly Sins, written in 1933, was their most successful co-creation. It is teeming with irony and ambiguity, enhanced by the duality of the main character. 

… convincingly sung by Eli Kristin Hansveen

– Aksel Tollåli, Aftenposten

Excerpts from Weill's opera Rise and fall of the city of Mahagonny

We will also get an instrumental performance of Mahagonny Dances: «Alabama-Song», «Denn wie man sich bettet», «Ich habe gelernt», «Ach bedenken Sie, Herr Jakob Schmidt», «Jetzt hab’ ich gegessen zwei Kälber» and «Erstens, vergesst nicht, kommt das Fressen».