Akiko Hada's The Fall of a Queen, or The Taste of Fruit to Come (1991) is a video opera that combines singing, spoken language, sign language, and subtitles into a multilayaed audiovisual piece. It is based on a libretto by Wolfgang Müller.
Played by singer Hermoine Zittler, the queen mingles incognito among her dissatisfied people in order to prevent an uprising. She sings and communicates in spoken English. Her counterpart, performed by the Deaf activist and sign language poet Gunter Trube, signs in British Sign Language (BSL) an International Sign (IS).
Produced for British television on Channel 4, the video opera is designed for a hearing, English-speaking public. Subtitles translate selected dialogue and sign language passages into English, while texts sung and spoken in English go largely untranslated. In this way, communication can be experienced as hierarchical, fragile, and unstable.
![Surreale Collage mit der Sängerin Hermoine Zittlau als Königin in prunkvollem Rot-Gold-Kleid und Hermelinmantel vor einer violett-beigen Tapete. Links ein kleines Fenster, rechts der Gebärdensprachpoet Gunter Trube als königlicher Berater, dessen Größe und Pose ihn vom Raum losgelöst wirken lassen. Am unteren linken Rand ein angeschnittenes Gesicht mit geöffnetem Mund. Eingeblendet der Untertitel: „Her Majesty should listen in disguise“ [Du musst Dich umkleiden und zuhören].](/sites/default/files/styles/custom_original/public/media/images/2026-03/Bildschirmfoto%202026-01-06%20um%2014.42.12%281%29.png?itok=7tAxtcds)
