{"id":1919,"date":"2026-10-06T13:44:31","date_gmt":"2026-10-06T13:44:31","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/redzine.co.uk\/index.php\/2026\/10\/06\/rebel-rebel-the-musical-stages-david-bowies-dystopian-vision\/"},"modified":"2026-10-06T13:44:31","modified_gmt":"2026-10-06T13:44:31","slug":"rebel-rebel-the-musical-stages-david-bowies-dystopian-vision","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/redzine.co.uk\/index.php\/2026\/10\/06\/rebel-rebel-the-musical-stages-david-bowies-dystopian-vision\/","title":{"rendered":"Rebel Rebel the Musical stages David Bowie\u2019s dystopian vision"},"content":{"rendered":"

\u201cIf you can listen to Rebel Rebel and not be a tiny bit glad you\u2019re alive,\u201d the Irish writer Joseph O\u2019Connor once claimed<\/a>, \u201cyou\u2019ve got an answering-machine for a heart\u201d. <\/p>\n

O\u2019Connor was of course referring to David Bowie\u2019s<\/a> 1974 song, which provides the title of a new musical directed by Belgian theatre director Ivo van Hove. Based on the music of Bowie, the musical has recently finished a sold-out run as part of Germany\u2019s Ruhrtriennale Festival<\/a>. <\/p>\n

A editor of the forthcomimg Cambridge Companion to David Bowie, it felt only right that I see Rebel Rebel, so I travelled to Bochum and excitedly took my seat for two consecutive nights. Judging from the audience reaction, this is a show that made many people feel more than a tiny bit glad that they are alive.<\/p>\n

One of the play\u2019s standout moments is a reworking of Bowie\u2019s 1972 hit Starman<\/a>. It begins as romantic duet between two of the show\u2019s three main protagonists, identified as \u201cGirl\u201d (played by Ari Notartomaso) and \u201cBoy\u201d (Diego Rodriguez). From a love song beginning, this new Starman swells into a raw, joyous ensemble piece. As a chorus of 12 dancers, backed by a powerful live band, sings \u201clet the children lose it, let the children use it\u201d, a giant video screen displays footage of a child running through a field holding a toy plane, wishing it into an ascent that, of course, can never happen.<\/p>\n

Van Hove knows that the joyous emotional musical push of Rebel Rebel<\/a> (the song) also has a sombre literary and political background. Diamond Dogs, the 1974 Bowie album on which Bowie\u2019s anthem first appeared, is loosely based on George Orwell\u2019s dystopian novel 1984<\/a>. Bowie\u2019s earliest concept for this album had been to create a musical based on 1984 but Sonia Orwell, Orwell\u2019s widow, refused to give him the rights<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The action of Rebel Rebel takes place in a dystopian world where, as van Hove explains in the programme, \u201ca top-down government orders that no one can have relationships. No connection is possible between people\u201d. Along with creating such intense levels of repression, this government is is also delighted to let violent gangs roam the streets, terrorising an already suppressed population. <\/p>\n

Trailer for Rebel, Rebel.<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Within this world there are three main characters. As well as Girl and Boy (who very distantly echo Orwell\u2019s thwarted lovers Julia and Winston), there is Gang Leader (Daniel Donskoy), who embodies the forces determined to annihilate them. Like Tony and Maria in West Side Story, a production of which van Hove directed<\/a> in New York in 2020, Girl and Boy embody a drive towards desire, connection and peace in a world where powerful interests find violence and division much more expedient. <\/p>\n

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\n Read more:
\n Five of Stephen Sondheim\u2019s best shows<\/a>
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\n <\/em>\n<\/p>\n

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Power of hope<\/h2>\n

Rebel Rebel\u2019s publicity emphasises the show\u2019s intensely collaborative nature. On the programme, van Hove\u2019s name shares equal prominence with those of choreographer Sidi Larbi Cherkaoui, musical director Henry Hey and set\/lighting designer Jan Versweyveld. A fifth name \u2013 that of video designer Christopher Ash \u2013 could easily have been added. <\/p>\n

\u201cGenocide\u201d is one of the first words uttered in Rebel Rebel and a persistently sombre aspect of the show\u2019s visual presentation is the display, on a massive screen high at the back of the stage, of images of war-torn cityscapes. <\/p>\n

While no names or specific locations are supplied and while the programme emphasised that \u201cthe piece doesn\u2019t directly talk about the present\u201d, it was very difficult to sit through Rebel Rebel\u2019s two hours without thinking of real world parallels. But Rebel Rebel is also, for van Hove, \u201ca story about hope\u201d.<\/p>\n

And most of that hope comes from Bowie\u2019s music. There is very little dialogue. Nearly every word is sung and comes from a Bowie song, of which there are about 25 in all. Most of them are love songs and they come from different strands of Bowie\u2019s career. There are some huge classics from the early and the later 1970s (the Berlin period is well-represented), all performed with physical energy, verbal clarity and vocal freshness. None of the three main singers ever \u2013 to their credit \u2013 attempt to sound like Bowie. <\/p>\n

Nick Cave<\/a> once wrote of the love song that it \u201cmust resonate with the susurration of sorrow, the tintinnabulation of grief\u201d and \u2013 even though this show is full of genuinely joyous moments \u2013 Rebel Rebel always meets Cave\u2019s requirement. <\/p>\n

It does this in part because of the refreshing attention paid to words. Van Hove is, as Bowie was, a keen and attentive reader. \u201cPeople talk about me as if I rip apart texts,\u201d van Hove once said<\/a>. \u201cI don\u2019t do that. I always start with the text.\u201d <\/p>\n

In a van Hove show \u2013 whether it is a production of an American classic like Arthur Miller\u2019s All my Sons<\/a> or an adaptation of Hanya Yanagihara\u2019s novel A Little Life<\/a> \u2013 words matter. Modern Love<\/a> (1983), sung by Gang Leader, is performed with a clear-eyed sense of how its cheery beat is at odds with its misanthropic, shut-in, anti-romantic lyrics. The show also features songs from Bowie albums of the 1990s and the 2000s (Outside, Heathen, Reality, The Next Day) all of which are performed with emotional punch and some of which are beautifully, delicately rearranged.<\/p>\n

Another standout moment is Slowburn<\/a>, a song that first appeared on Bowie\u2019s 2002 Heathen album. The forceful playing of Hey\u2019s band combined with Rodriguez\u2019s bell-clear singing worked compellingly well. Standing before a video screen-backdrop of fire and flame, Rodrigeuz delivered a performance which made Slowburn a song about heat, devastation and a sense of terror to which anyone who had lived through the suffocation and fires of summer 2026 could all too easily relate.<\/p>\n

There is every reason to hope that this sold-out run in Bochum is only a beginning. Announcements of an international tour would make many theatregoers across Europe \u2013 and particularly in the UK, where Bowie\u2019s legacy runs deepest \u2013 much more than a tiny bit glad. <\/p>\n

This article features references to books that have been included for editorial reasons, and may contain links to bookshop.org. If you click on one of the links and go on to buy something, The Conversation UK may earn a commission.<\/em><\/p>\n

\"The<\/p>\n

Denis Flannery does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u201cIf you can listen to Rebel Rebel and not be a tiny bit glad you\u2019re alive,\u201d the Irish writer Joseph O\u2019Connor once claimed, \u201cyou\u2019ve got an answering-machine for a heart\u201d. O\u2019Connor was of course referring to David Bowie\u2019s 1974 song, which provides the title of a new musical directed by Belgian theatre director Ivo van […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1919","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/redzine.co.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1919","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/redzine.co.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/redzine.co.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/redzine.co.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/redzine.co.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1919"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/redzine.co.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1919\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/redzine.co.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1919"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/redzine.co.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1919"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/redzine.co.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1919"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}