The Royal Ballet and The Royal Opera Will Perform PHAEDRA + MINOTAUR

The Royal Ballet and The Royal Opera will present a joint collaboration of Phaedra + Minotaur for a limited run of performances this February. Combining Deborah Warner’s evocative staging of Benjamin Britten’s cantata Phaedra with Kim Brandstrup’s intimate ballet reworking the tale of Ariadne and Theseus, Phaedra + Minotaur will be staged in the Linbury Theatre from 6 – 11 February 2025.

Deborah Warner’s Phaedra was first presented as part of the 4/4 programme on the Main Stage in October 2020, with British mezzo-soprano Christine Rice performing the title role. Rice reprises the role of Phaedra, following her Olivier award nomination for 4/4 and critically acclaimed performances at Ustinov Studio, Bath and the Edinburgh International Festival. The Royal Opera’s Head of Music, Richard Hetherington, accompanies with a new and intimate piano arrangement, taken from the original chamber orchestration.

Deborah Warner has staged a range of works performed by The Royal Opera, including the Olivier-award nominated Peter Grimes (2022) and Wozzeck (2023). These productions both featured choreography by Danish choreographer Kim Brandstrup, who has also collaborated with Warner on works for English National Opera.

Minotaur was choreographed specially for this programme by Brandstrup, who has an extensive portfolio of works reimagining stories of classical literature and mythology. Contemporary dancer Tommy Franzen returns to the role of Dionysus, and Jonathan Goddard performs as Theseus. Brandstrup has collaborated with Franzen previously for a work commissioned by The Royal Ballet, Leda and the Swan, with former Principal dancer Zenaida Yanowsky. Goddard has performed in another of Brandstrup’s mythologically inspired works, Echo and Narcissus, at the Ustinov Studio.

This staging of Minotaur will see Royal Ballet Principal Character Artist Kristen McNally take on the role of Ariadne for the first time, with First Artist Isabel Lubach returning to the role after a 5* run of the show at the Edinburgh International Festival.

Brandstrup has previously created multiple works for The Royal Ballet, including Two Footnotes to Ashton (2005), with former Principal dancers Alina Cojacaru, Johan Kobborg, and Zenaida Yanovsky, and Ceremony of Innocence (2013), with Edward Watson, Mara Galeazzi, and Marcelino Sambé.

Combining the power of opera and dance with other-worldly illusions and shadow play, Phaedra + Minotaur brings out the psychological element of these well-known Greek mythological tales and places their focus on the women involved.

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