Trump to appear in Punch and Judy opera by top Austrian composer

The Grawemeyer-winning composer Olga Neuwirth is working on a new opera with Nobel Prize literature winner Elfriede Jelinek. Titled ‘Monster’s Paradise’ it features an incompetent, brutal king, easily recognised in today’s political pantheon. The style is being described as ‘apocalyptic Punch and Judy’.

Jelinek says: ‘The king, one cannot deny it, clearly bears Trump’s traits… you cannot caricature someone like Trump.’

Commissioned by incoming artistic director Tobias Kratzer, the work will open at Hamburg State Opera on February 1 next year.

Sample aria:

Our songs are not recorded.

There will be no record deals.

Whoever owns something as beautiful as the world,

Is already looking forward to it being destroyed.