Monteverdi's The Return of Ulysses - an ENO and Young Vic collaboration

An ENO/ Young Vic co-production

The Return of Ulysses

Monteverdi

Badoaro after Homer

Opens: 24 March 2011 (8 performances)

Continuing its work with creative, world-class talent across the arts, ENO's latest collaboration with the Young Vic brings highly acclaimed Australian theatre director Benedict Andrews to create a radical new staging of Monteverdi's The Return of Ulysses. For this dramatic retelling of the final chapters of Homer's Odyssey, Jonathan Cohen makes his Company debut, conducting a cast led by Tom Randle and Pamela Helen Stephen. Recognised internationally as an audacious and imaginative artist, Andrews, of Berlin's Schaubühne am Lehniner Platz Theater, is a devotee of classic works and known for delving in to the dark side of humanity in his productions. His talent for accessing the emotional and psychological centre of a piece in a simple but powerful way will allow one of the world's most famous and beloved myths to speak afresh. Andrews emerged from Neil Armfield's company B Belvoir and  went  on to helm a groundbreaking production of A Streetcar Named Desire at the Schaubühne Theater, a multi-award-winning production of Patrick White's The Season at Sarsaparilla and an eight-hour staging of Shakespeare's The War of the Roses for the Sydney Theatre Company. The Return of Ulysses was written towards the end of Monteverdi's long life and is based on the second half of Homer's Odyssey. It tells the story of how constancy and virtue are ultimately rewarded; treachery and deception overcome. After his long journey home from the Trojan Wars, Ulysses, King of Ithaca, returns to find a trio of villainous suitors have seized the realm and are importuning his faithful queen, Penelope. With the assistance of the gods, his son Telemachus and a staunch friend Eumaeus, Ulysses vanquishes the suitors, recovers his kingdom and is re-united with Penelope. Helping bring to life Andrews's vision of this classic text is award-winning Icelandic designer Börkur Jónsson, whose work is internationally recognised and spans the media of film, theatre, art and opera. The creative team is completed by costume designer Alice Babidge and lighting designer Jon Clarke. Jonathan Cohen is rapidly developing a reputation as one of Britain's finest and most versatile young conductors and has been enjoying international acclaim, having recently been made Associate Conductor of Les Arts Florissants. The cast includes Tom Randle as Ithaca's long-absent king and Pamela Helen Stephen as his proverbially faithful wife; Thomas Hobbs as Telemachus, Thomas Walker as Eurimachus, Ruby Hughes as Minerva and Kate Manley as Melanto.

The Return of Ulysses opens at the Young Vic on 24 March for 8 performances - 24, 26, 29, 31 March and 2, 4, 6, 9 April at 7.00pm

This production is supported by the Peter Moores Foundation

Booking Information

All performances are at the Young Vic.

Tickets are only available from the Young Vic Box Office and are priced from £30.

Box Office: 020 7922 2922

www.youngvic.org

(Press Release/English National Opera)