Page 104 - FINAL_Theatre of Sound Coverage Book

In the absence of a staging we are left to imagine what is finally revealed

behind the seventh door. Bluebeard’s three former wives are there – alive,

according to Judith, but presumably hovering in some twilight zone

between life and death.

John Relyea, sepulchral of tone, embodied the sinister but alluring nature

of the traditional Bluebeard. Ildikó Komlósi was a powerfully expressive

Judith. Her delivery left no doubt that her character loves Bluebeard,

though it raises the question: What exactly is it that draws her to him. Is it

his power, his magnetism, his oddly hued facial hair? You might think that
after the first door has revealed a bloody torture chamber, Judith is

justified in seeking to know more. Like Wagner’s Lohengrin, though,

Bluebeard’s only response is “Kiss me, but ask no questions.”

If Bullock and Finley explored the very human tragedy of a marriage

devastated by the catastrophe of dementia, Komlósi and Relyea, under