Synopsis

Arthur, king of the Britons and Oswald, Saxon king of Kent, are rivals for the hand of Emmeline, the blind daughter of the Duke of Cornwall. Already ten bloody battles have been fought and the Saxons have been driven back. The decisive conflict is about to be launched when Emmeline and her attendant Matilda are captured by Oswald. Arthur, having resisted the temptations of two sirens, captures the spirit Grimbald and breaks the enchantments that are set against him. In the last act the opposing armies fight: Arthur meets Oswald in hand-to-hand conflict and, disarming him, offers him his freedom. Emmeline (whose sight has been restored) and Arthur are united. Merlin banishes the winds and Britain’s island rises from the sea.

Director’s Note

La Calisto is as sublime as it is ridiculous. The first scene is set in the ‘crystalline cavern of eternity’. I love the poetry of that phrase and I wanted our production to stay true to the metaphysical concept behind it. The whole opera seems to happen in a time and place that are somehow beyond – or behind, or inside – time and place as we ordinarily understand them. It has been a gift for us as a team to create a world that is not real, where the laws of physics need not be obeyed and where the logic of dreams prevails. Flann O’Brien and The Third Policeman helped us understand how metaphysics and infinity could make perfect comedy, and how anything could happen inside a box, especially if you got bicycles involved …

Sinéad O’Neill, Director  

Production sketches

Production sketches by Saoirse Carey and Maria Blay Gomez, Design for Stage and Screen, IADT