Live, Video: Kritiken zu klassischen Konzerten, Opern, Ballett und Tanz finden | Greek

Reminding us of the timeless relevance of myth, Joe Hill-Gibbons’s Scottish Opera production of Greek moves to Hannover with a few contemporary twists.

Alex Otterburn as East End Eddy gives a towering performance in Scottish Opera’s revival of its Edinburgh Festival production of Mark Anthony Turnage’s Greek.

Greek packs a punch. Especially in Music Theatre Wales’ simple production, here at the Royal Opera House Linbury Studio Theatre. Mark-Antony Turnage’s music brings Steven Berkoff’s play to life.

Combining Steven Berkoff’s brutally in-yer-face libretto with the gutsy music of Mark-Anthony Turnage was bound to be an explosive mix. The result was Greek, Turnage’s first opera (or, more accurately, Singspiel), first performed in 1988 and now given an inspiring new airing from Music Theatre Wales. Berkoff’s text was adapted from his own play, based on the Oedipus myth.

When is an opera not an opera? Some would answer this question with “when it’s a musical”, but such a response says more about our own preconceptions of what opera and musical theatre represent than it does about the works themselves.