Phaedra + Minotaur
Author(s):
Music by Benjamin Britten, libretto by Robert Lowell
Company:
The Royal Opera, The Royal Ballet and Ustinov Studio, Theatre Royal Bath
Running time:
1h 25min approx
Age recommendation:
12+ years
Deborah Warner (Wozzeck, Peter Grimes) and Kim Brandstrup (Metamorphosis – Titian, Rushes – Fragments of a Lost Story) reunite for a co-presentation between The Royal Opera and The Royal Ballet.
Benjamin Britten’s Phaedra is sung by Christine Rice, who harnesses Phaedra’s eroticism and despair, while in Minotaur, Brandstrup’s choreography lays bare the human vulnerability and desire buried within Ariadne.
Phaedra
Consumed with an uncontrollable lust for her stepson, Phaedra determines her only way out is death.
Minotaur
Ariadne has betrayed home and country to help her lover slay the Minotaur—only for him to abandon her, while Dionysus watches on from above.
