Welsh National Opera performs Bartók's 'Bluebeard's Castle' and Stravinsky's 'Oedipus Rex', sung in Hungarian and Latin with English and Welsh surtitles.
Welsh National Opera are at Mayflower Theatre on Thursday 12 November, bringing together two of the 20th century's most striking operas in a single evening. It's a double bill: Bartók's Bluebeard's Castle and Stravinsky's Oedipus Rex, both sung in their original languages — Hungarian and Latin — with English and Welsh surtitles to follow. The whole thing is tied together by the WNO Chorus, who open the night with the ethereal chants of Hildegard von Bingen.
Bluebeard's Castle takes the first half. It's a dark, psychological piece: Judith leaves everything behind for the enigmatic Duke Bluebeard, only to find his home filled with locked doors whose secrets grow more unsettling as she opens them. The second half shifts that same stark setting to the ancient city of Thebes, where King Oedipus, gripped by a plague, is forced to confront a destiny he cannot escape. The production binds the two into a single world of ritual and mystery, drawing connections between the two myths.
On stage are Nathan Berg, Peter Hoare and Christine Rice, with the WNO Chorus throughout. Lydia Yankovskaya conducts and Joe Hill-Gibbins directs, and the original production of Bluebeard's Castle comes from English National Opera. It's a gothic, atmospheric evening that runs about 2 hours and 40 minutes, including one interval.
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Tickets start from £17.00, and the performance begins at 19:30. There's age guidance of 12+, and under 2s aren't allowed.
