Details

An operatic divertissement to be performed in an abridged version of Moliere's comedy Le Bourgeois Gentilhomme. Both pignant and comic, Ariadne auf Naxos is an opera within an opera. The curtain opens on a Viennese salon where preparations are being made for a performance of an opera. There is consternation when the Major Domo (Chied Butler) announces that due to time pressure, a harlequin troupe will be performing comedy during the opera itself. The conflicting scenarios and contrasting characters reveal what happens when stand-up comedy meets Greek tragedy and music hall meets high art. With English supertitles

Performers Orla Boylan (Ariadne), John Horton Murray (Bacchus), Wendy Dawn Thompson (Composer), Elizabeth Cragg (Zerbinetta), Russell Smythe (Music Master), Daniel Norman (Dancing Master), Quirijn de Lang (Harlequin), Nicholas Sharratt (Brighella), Andrew Slater (Truffaldino), Tamsin Coombs (Echo), Susan Atherton (Dryad), Pascal Charbonneau (Scaramuccio), Rainer Woss (Major Domo), Martin Lamb (Lackey), Rob Gildon (Wig Maker).
Music Strauss. Lyrics Hofmannsthal. Company Garsington Opera. Conductor Elgar Howarth. Director Martin Duncan. Design Francis O'Connor. Lighting Bruno Poet.