The feminist and guerrilla version of Händel’s ‘Theodora’ is revealed to the audience of the Teatro Real

The new feminist and guerrilla version of ‘Theodora’, from Georg Friedrich Händel’s oratorio, premiered for the first time on stage this Monday at the Teatro Real, and it did so with the figure of a very present intimacy coordinator, a common profession in the cinema but not in the opera, due to the sexual scenes that have been represented in the Madrid coliseum.

The public applauded the artistic team for more than five minutes during which repeated ‘bravo’ was heard. Applause that, in general, has also been repeated on many occasions throughout the performance.

Before the performance began, a respectful minute of silence was observed for the DANA victims, with the audience standing and ending the solemn moment with loud applause.

This libretto, by Thomas Morell, is based on Robert Boyle’s work, ‘Love and Religion Demonstrated in the Martyrdom of Theodora and Didymus’. The original story is set in Antioch in the 4th century AD. C. and presents to the public the martyrdom of the Christian Theodora, in love with Didymus, a Roman officer with whom she shares the faith for which they will be persecuted.

However, this reinterpretation is set in an embassy, ​​where stage director Katie Mitchell has been able to move away from a conservative vision of Christian women to turn them into guerrilla women.

The soprano Julia Bullock has been in charge of giving life to this young woman on the first day of the opera, which will be on stage until November 23. Much of the performance takes place in a kitchen, and its protagonist plays a woman who works as a domestic staff. A work that is also carried out by the rest of the Christian characters.

In most versions of Theodora, the title character does not appear on stage until half an hour into the performance. However, in director Katie Mitchell’s feminist reinterpretation of Handel’s 1750 oratorio, it is present from the beginning.

The feminist approach of this work lies in two main moments of the representation. The first of them is the initial edict in which it is decreed that anyone who does not worship the Roman gods will be sentenced to death. What happens is that a woman is discovered violating this rule and the terms of the punishment change, turning her into a sex worker.

The second moment occurs when Theodora’s lover, Didymus, arrives to rescue her from the brothel, putting himself in her place, exchanging roles, alluding to gender politics. This is one of the ways Mitchell examines misogyny and hypocrisy.

THE COURAGE OF A WOMAN

The work revolves around the opposition between two communities, the Roman world and the Christian world, each embodied in a specific sound universe. The Roman world is described by music that exalts the official preachings, with the speeches of the governors, often with many orders and little content, and that reflects what this community is like during the show: inflexible and intransigent.

On the opposite side is the Christian world, strengthened by a faith prohibited in the era in which the original work is set. In this new interpretation, the Christian characters become the domestic staff of a Roman embassy.

Between these two worlds there are some characters who have a linking function, such as Didymus, who is in the middle because he is a Roman officer who is in love with Theodora, and the definitive proof of his love and his sacrifice will be his conversion at the end of the first act, and his fidelity to her when he becomes aware that he is going to lose everything. Didymus embodies – at the same time – both types of love, the spiritual and the love of God and the carnal love of the pagans.

As for the set design, the representation contains five spaces that predominate in the work, the kitchen of the domestic staff and the embassy lounge in the first act, to which are added a room with red walls and a bed and a brothel in which two women appear dancing on a bar in act two. Finally, in Act III it expands to a freezer for Didymus and Theodora. These scenarios transition between them horizontally.

Starting in Act II, the sexualization of women appears, coinciding with Theodora’s capture by the Romans, who force her into prostitution. At this moment is when Didymus appears, proclaiming himself Theodora’s savior and offering to exchange clothes, allowing the protagonist to escape from that place. To end the play, Theodora confronts the Romans, who are described as the “earthly” power.

The new ‘Theodora’ will continue at the Teatro Real until November 23 in this new co-production that has brought together the Royal and the Royal Opera House in London, where Händel premiered the score in 1750, when it was a failure due to the subject it addressed.

The cast is completed by the mezzosoprano Joyce DiDonato (Irene), the contratenor Iestyn Davies (Didymus), the tenor Ed Lyon (Septimus) and the tenor Thando Mjandana (Mensajero).