„Unbearable masterpiece“: Milo Rau brings all Greek tragedies to the stage
“Unbearable masterpiece”, was De Morgen‘s verdict on Milo Rau’s farewell to NTGent, Medea’s Children, awarding it five stars. Also critic Johan Thilemans came to the same conclusion: “Masterful is the only word that fits this performance.” And the critic from Sceneweb even went one step further: “Medea’s Children breaks the boundaries of imagination.”
Rau, who declared 2018 NTGent the “City Theatre of the Future” and published the globally discussed Ghent Manifesto, will leave the “fantastic” city of Ghent another legacy: the ALL GREEKS FESTIVAL, a festival dedicated to Greek tragedy, presenting at sunrise the entire canon of 32 surviving plays in the streets of Ghent.
This “lifelong dream of Milo Rau” brings theatre back to the centre of society. “Why not spend our best hours on it? Why not enjoy theatre in the morning when we have the greatest clarity of mind?”, asks Rau’s co-curator Matthias Velle. Find all info about this “biggest tragedy festival since Sophocles” here.
Another piece of news shaked the theatre world these days: Nobel Prize Winner Elfriede Jelinek has given Milo Rau the permission to stage her play Burgtheater, which was banned for 44 years and is probably the most myth-enshrouded work in German speaking theatre. And not just anywhere, but on the stage of the Burgtheater itself, the largest in Europe: the “sensation of the coming season”, as the press unanimously wrote.
But before that, next Tuesday, Rau will open the TANGENTE festival with his acclaimed mining opera Justice. Already today, Antigone in the Amazon finally lands in Rau’s hometown of Zurich after stops in Finland, Australia, Italy, France and a dozen other countries. Last tickets here!