> ## Content Index > Fetch the complete content index at: https://georgigospodinov.com/llms.txt > Use this file to discover other available public pages before exploring further. # Space opera - URL: https://georgigospodinov.com/space-opera/ - Published: 2026-01-29T21:52:00.000Z - Updated: 2026-02-13T19:18:33.000Z - Description: Opera. Libretto by Georgi Gospodinov, music by Aleksander Nowak, 2015 - Author: Gergana Georgieva - Tags: Projects **LIBRETTO** Georgi Gospodinov *Translated from the Bulgarian by Angela Rodel* **CHARACTERS** EVE: Mezzo-soprano ADAM: Bass-baritone FLY / LAIKA: Soprano and Counter-tenor PRODUCER / BEDOUIN: Bass FRUIT FLIES / PEOPLE: Mixed chorus **ACT ONE** **I PROLOGUE TO ACT ONE** *Darkness and distant stars, which can be scattered throughout the whole auditorium, not just on stage, as in a planetarium, the slow rotation of the stars. Reddish Martian glow is slowly growing larger at the very back of the stage.* *Visual play with space. The space capsule is like a skull, small, a cramped, claustrophobic space, juxtaposed against the great boundlessness of the cosmos.* \[PROJECTION\] The whole history of the cosmos has been marked by the solitude of several animals. Human cosmic solitude comes later. FRUIT FLIES In the beginning there was the fly… In the beginning, there was the common fruit fly They were the first ones sent into space *Drosophila melanogaster*, Our name is longer than we are We who work the simple miracle of turning fruit into wine Let’s be frank We are terribly fit for experiments We multiply quickly We die quickly (a short life-cycle, as they say) Oh, how fit we are for experiments! No one has been convicted for killing a fly No one has been found guilty. *The Fly is on the balcony behind the audience, like in a church during ceremony.* FLY Rest in Peace. FRUIT FLIES Hats off to the fruit flies Who were there in the beginning And who were forgotten They were the first to leave the earthly sphere. Year? – 1946. Rocket? – V2. Height? – Almost 100 km. And then came the monkeys – rhesus monkeys – macaque Albert the Second was first. Year? – 1949. Height? – 134 km. Albert the First died before getting up high enough. Albert the Second also died, but on the way back down. Albert the Third remained in space. Albert the Fourth was the lucky one, he came back alive. And then he died. Monkeys again preceded man – both in space and on earth. Albert the First, Albert the Second, Albert the Third, Albert the Fourth... FLY Rest in Peace FRUIT FLIES A whole cosmic dynasty… rest in peace. At least you have a name, albeit one and the same. As for us… is there even a single fly with a name? Let us not forget Laika the dog, The first real cosmonaut, The first one in orbit Sex? – Female. Age? – Three. Breed? – Stray mutt. Place of birth? – Some backyard in Moscow. Place of death? – Somewhere in the Cosmos. Rocket? – Sputnik. Launched the rocket? – On November 3, 1957 Kicked the bucket? – On November 3, 1957 Bzzz... Let us remember all the souls left in orbit All the souls of animals still circling Fruit flies – nameless Nameless mice Nameless earthworms Monkeys with one and the same name, Albert One, Albert Two, Albert Three, Albert Four Dogs, each with its own name, Laika, Bars, Lisichka, Belka, Strelka, Pchelka, Damka, Krasavka, Chernushka, Zvezdochka, Verterok, Ugolyok, Mushka... five of them in flight... Rest in Peace. Every rocket was a Noah’s ark.