Duke Bluebeard's Castle

Opera in one act by Béla Bartók, libretto by Béla Balázs | Performed as a Lichtspieloper (film-light opera)

Sung in German with German surtitles

Blood-soaked walls, seven locked doors, darkness everywhere - Duke Bluebeard's castle is a deeply unsettling place. Yet Bluebeard's beloved Judith is determined: she will follow him into his fortress and bring light to its dark secrets through the power of her love. She demands the keys to all seven locked doors, pressing ever deeper into the mysteries of the man she loves and his castle, opening door after door - but what will she find behind them?

From the fairy-tale source "La barbe bleue", Béla Bartók and librettist Béla Balázs crafted an expressionist drama of the soul in 1911, in which the castle itself - a symbol of the male psyche - takes centre stage. The libretto draws on cinematic lighting effects, and this production takes that idea literally, staging the work through the language of film. A key element of this semi-staged "film-light opera" are video projections by Max Ophüls Prize winner Sascha Vredenburg and Cedric Klaus.