Phaedra

Ballet by Philip Glass

Credits

Music by Philip Glass
© Dunvagen Music Publishers Inc. Used by Permission.
Choreography by Flemming Flindt

Staged by Jacob Sparso
Set Designer: Pyotr Okunev (conceived by Beni Montresor)
Original Lighting Design: Tony Tucci
Adapted or Recreated by Erin Earle Fleming

SYNOPSIS

The ballet action is based on these quotes from Euripides’ Greek drama Hippolytus:

Scene 1
Aphrodite: I shall punish Hippolytus this very day.

Scene 2
Phaedra & Theseus: Go away now for the gods’ sake and let go my hand.

Scene 3
Hyppolytus: Follow our guardian maid Artemis.

Scene 4
Hyppolytus: My body is pure.

Scene 5
Phaedra & The Nurse: Aphrodite sent Phaedra an unhappy star.

Scene 6
Hyppolytus: The counterfeit coin, woman, to curse the human race.

Scene 7
Phaedra: Passion reaches the boundary of life.

Scene 8
Chorus: Love whose coming is devastation.

Scene 9
Hippolytus: Curse on the whole race of woman.

Scene 10
Phaedra: The strength of my limbs has melted away.

Scene 11
Chorus: Her body seems so wasted, all her strength is gone.

Scene 12
Phaedra & Hippolytus: Terrible is the advent of Aphrodite. The breath of her terror is felt in every land.

Scene 13
The Nurse: Oh, hateful day! This hateful life.

Scene 14
Phaedra: Death must end this torture.

Scene 15
Theseus: My dead wife, whose death is living death to me.

Scene 16
Theseus to Hippolytus: Take Orpheus for your master, dance his crazy rites.

Scene 17
Chorus: Weep for the Queen, tears for her tears.

Scene 18
Theseus: How often Aphrodite shall I in tears remember the wrong that you have done?

ABOUT THE PRODUCTION

Although inspired by the original Greek myth of Phaedra, Flemming Flindt’s interpretation in not a literal translation, but rather a contemporary fable in which Phaedra, ignored by her husband and isolated from her children, turn to Hyppolytus in attempt to find meaning in her life.

Premiere: 18 February 1987, Dallas, Majestic Theatre
Premiere at the Primorsky Stage of the Mariinsky Theatre: 12 November 2021, Vladivostok

Running time: 55 minutes

Age category: 12+
Phaedra
on the playbill
12 December 2024, 19:00
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