The Makropulos Case - Royal Ballet and Opera

The Makropulos Case - Royal Ballet and Opera description

You're immortal. You've lived forever. But you're terribly lonely. This is The Makropoulos Case.

She's world famous. She's mysterious. And she has already lived for three centuries thanks to an elixir of immortality. Meet Emilia Marty, who becomes tangled up in a battle to get more of the life-extending magic substance she needs to stay alive. But, as she soon begins to realise, at the end of the day, her long life has brought her nothing but emptiness and isolation.

This is the first time Leoš Janáček's haunting story has been staged by The Royal Opera, an enigmatic masterpiece reimagined with a contemporary slant. Exploring what it means to love and the cost of passion, immortality turns out to be less of a gift, more of a curse.

The Music Director of The Royal Opera, Jakub Hrůša, conducts the opera, which was written in the mid-1920s in a modernist style that reflects the dark philosophical themes of the story perfectly. The score only adds to the tension and emotional complexity. Expect unsettling contrasts, irregular rhythms, compelling speech melodies and strange harmonies, together creating a disturbing soundscape like no other.

Critically acclaimed director Katie Mitchell (Theodora, Lucia di Lammermoor) stages this fresh new production of Leoš Janáček's haunting classic, with Libretto also from Janáček. The Set Designer is Vicki Mortimer, the Costume Designer is Sussie Juhlin-Wallén and the Lighting Design comes from James Farncombe. Video Design is by Sasha Balmazi-Owen and the opera is sung in the original Czech with English surtitles.

Buy The Makropoulos Case tickets to enter the strange world of a lonely woman who has lived for 300 years. Will she live for another three centuries?

Playing at Royal Opera House

Bow Street, London, WC2E 9DD GB (venue info)

Directions