Page 45 - FINAL_Theatre of Sound Coverage Book

28 October 2021

Gerald Finley is Bluebeard in Theatre of Sound’s staged version of Bartók’s opera at Stone Nest

WHATEVER spin you put on Bluebeard’s Castle – Bartók’s operatic psycho-drama for two
voices with a massive orchestra – it can’t escape the fact that this is one of the most chilling
pieces in the repertoire. A morbid fairytale about a man who keeps his life behind locked
doors, the last of which contains the bodies of his murdered wives, it’s not a song and dance
routine. Think Stephen King with singing. But it’s open to alternative interpretations; and
next month you can take your pick from two – because it’s being done not once but twice on
November 6, in very different ways.

One is a full-sized concert version at the Festival Hall, done by the London Philharmonic
Orchestra under Edward Gardner on traditional terms (details: southbankcentre.co.uk).

But the other is a radical, small-scale staging in the former Limelight nightclub, done by a
new company called Theatre of Sound as part of a season that runs November 4-14. This
modest, staged version won’t give you a grand orchestral soundscape, because there will only