"When Stravinsky composed Oedipus Rex in 1927, Jean Cocteau wrote a French libretto based on Sophocles's tragedy, which was then translated into Latin, a language Stravinsky called not dead but turned to stone. It was to be mere syllables to sing notes to, immune to vulgarisation as he put it a way to tell a tragedy without too much pesky drama getting in the way."
"In choreographer Wayne McGregor's production of Oedipus Rex, paired with a new ballet based on the myth of Antigone and premiered by the Norwegian National Opera and Ballet, there is drama, but it is of the stark, unsentimental kind. The double bill is entitled Jocasta's Line, as Jocasta, queen of Thebes, sees her husband/son (spoiler, they're the same person!) and daughter meet tragic ends."
"Stravinsky's original instructions were for the singers to be masked, unmoving, in restrictive costumes. In this production, designed by Vicki Mortimer, they are trapped in Bauhaus-esque towers, as if Oedipus is in a pulpit, or Creon, his brother-in-law, in the dock. The small group of dancers, often in stillness, provide another kind of architecture. The male chorus lines up like a battalion."
Stravinsky composed Oedipus Rex in 1927 to a Jean Cocteau French libretto translated into Latin, which Stravinsky described as 'not dead but turned to stone', intending syllables as musical vehicles rather than dramatic language. Wayne McGregor's Jocasta's Line pairs that work with a new Antigone ballet for the Norwegian National Opera and Ballet, presenting drama of a stark, unsentimental kind. Vicki Mortimer's design traps masked, unmoving singers in Bauhaus-esque towers while a small group of often-still dancers provides architectural shapes. The male chorus lines up like a battalion, Sarah Connolly's Jocasta proves imperious, and Paul Appleby's unblinking Oedipus delivers vocal projection divorced from emotional exchange.
Read at www.theguardian.com
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