As part of the Festival Radio France Occitanie Montpellier, a masque brings together music, theater, dance, and stage machinery effects. In the second half of the 17th century, London audiences were fond of this type of performance, which inspired the ensemble Les Surprises to present Dido and Aeneas (premiered in 1689) in this way. Purcell's music is paired here with excerpts from plays by Shakespeare, master of plots in which the gods toy with the destiny of mortals. The artists on stage, in a true troupe spirit, take part in one shared gesture, by turns singer and actor, performer and dancer. The sea is the main character, within which the characters, caught in the contradictions of their feelings, struggle both grotesquely and magnificently. Here, it is at once music, movement, and set design. PROGRAM HENRY PURCELL Dido and Aeneas, opera in three acts Staged version Libretto by Nahum Tate Texts excerpted from Shakespeare's Macbeth, The Tempest, and Richard III, Virgil's Aeneid, and Scarron's Le Virgile Travesti Reservation required
Event from the official Montpellier agenda; venue: Office de Tourisme Montpellier; address: Opéra Comédie, 34000, Montpellier.
Source: Agenda Montpellier