Page 38 - FINAL_Theatre of Sound Coverage Book

she had spent with Bluebeard’. In any case, Perrault reassures the reader in his
second moralité, the events of the tale took place long, long ago, and ‘No longer are
husbands so terrible’: in his day, it’s the women who hold the keys of power. Despite this,
‘Bluebeard’ challenges conventional beliefs in the transformative power of love. In
contrast to tales such as ‘Cinderella’, ‘Sleeping Beauty’ and ‘Snow White’ – in which
marriage is a means to escape hardship and suffering – in ‘Bluebeard’ it is associated not
with romantic bliss but with murderous butchery.

Stone Nest (c) Valentina Korabelnikova

Next month, Theatre of Sound – a new partnership between long-time collaborators Daisy
Evans and Stephen Higgins, who have a shared passion and vision for presenting opera
in new ways to create intimate, inclusive, innovative experiences – will offer a ‘re-
imagining’ of the relationship between Bluebeard and his bride. Their inaugural
production, fully staged at Stone Nest, a performance venue based in a former Welsh
chapel in the heart of London’s West End, is a radical retelling of Béla Bartók’s Bluebeard’s
Castle whichreimagines the piece as a love story between a long-married couple coming
to terms with living with dementia. It will be performed by a stellar cast of star singers,
with soprano Susan Bullock, bass-baritone Gerald Finley, baritone Michael Mayes and
soprano Gweneth Ann Rand sharing the principal roles.

When I speak to Daisy Evans about the forthcoming production, I begin by confessing that
I find the concept which she and Stephen Higgins have devised, and have brought to
fruition with designer Adrian Linford and lighting designer Jack Wiltshire, not a little
perplexing. Daisy immediately sets about explaining their reading of the opera, with
obvious passion for Bartók’s masterpiece, and with considerable persuasiveness. “It
feels as if I’ve known the opera forever, and I’ve directed it in various forms – with the
National Youth Orchestra and with Silent Opera [the company she founded to present
explorations of staging and sound design in immersive productions of classic operas],
and in 2019, again working with Stephen, in Castello di Potentino in the middle of
Tuscany. And, every time there has seemed a mis-match between the Gothic elements of