Singing actors and dancing singers: Oscillations of genre, physical and vocal codes in two contemporary adaptations of Purcell's Dido and Aeneas

Abstract

By looking at two recent and widely recognized productions of Henry Purcell’s Dido and Aeneas (by choreographer Sasha Waltz, Berlin 2005, and theatre-director Sebastian Nubling, Basel 2006) this article discusses three main aspects: 1. Genre: Coming from a Tanztheater (Waltz) and a Sprechtheater (Nubling) background, both directors renegotiate conventions of the operatic genre, and consciously evade clear allocations in pursuit of a new and challenging experience for both the performers and their audience. 2. Physicality: Both productions place the performers’ bodies at the forefront of the mise en scene’s attention – they re-map the singing, dancing, acting body by questioning conventions and expectations commonly found in the production and reception process. 3. Adaptation: Both productions take unconventional liberties by adapting in a domain, where notions of Werktreue (fidelity to the original work or score) still reigns. Adopting ideas from Nicholas Cook and Mikhail Bakhtin, I will argue that the conceptual, musical and theatrical implications of both productions indicate a re-negotiation of the social and performative relevance of operatic performance.