This was a Royal Opera
House event which formed part of the Philip Glass weekend. It was
slightly rough at the edges and ground to a halt during the first
part due to a technical hitch. Sold-out, I found it hard at first to
see its charm and frankly thought it all rather confusing. However, I'm very glad I persevered as by the second half I was won over.
At first, the staging
seemed to me complex with several dancers and a singer covering the
same part. However, a combination of me getting used to it and it
being simplified in the second part transformed my experience.
The tale itself is
somewhat bizarre, centering on the seemingly incestuous relationship of
a brother and sister who engage each other in 'The Game' , whereby
they try to annoy each other with the histrionics of the sister and
the taciturn disinterest by the brother. Then, when he finds a girl to
love his sister does all she can to undermine the affair and promote
a rival to her brother's would-be girlfriend. The brother takes opium
to poison himself at which point the girl he loved attends him and
tells him of her lover for him./ now it is obvious that the sister
has thwarted them. Not to be outdone by her brother's death, the
sister shoots herself, bringing the evening to a close.
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