Grotesque and gripping: Opera Ballet Vlaanderen unveils a new Salome
Ersan Mondtag's gripping new Salome emphasises grotesque caricatures and ends with a bloody, plot-twisting coup d’état.
Rehearsals for Opera Ballet Vlaanderen’s new Salome began on the day that Donald Trump regained the US presidency. Jan Vandenhouwe, OBV’s Artistic Director, cites radical ideologies and polarisation in today’s society in his programme introduction. And director Ersan Mondtag sees contemporary parallels in his staging of Strauss’ opera, but looks East rather than West. Herod’s Judean rule is that of a tinpot dictator, a vassal here modelled on Alexander Lukashenko, Vladimir Putin’s Belarusian puppet. The opera ends in a bloody, plot-twisting coup d’état (spoiler below).
Continue reading at Bachtrack…