Theodorathe oratorio by composer Georg Friedrich Händel, is the story of a Christian martyr who was condemned, in 4th century Antioch, to practice prostitution for refusing to participate in the sacrifices in honor of Jupiter, as required by the Roman governor’s edict. . However, the staged version of Theodora which will be offered by Madrid’s Teatro Real between November 11 and 23, is set in our time and the protagonist transforms into an indomitable guerrilla.
This rereading of Thomas Morell’s libretto—based on the play Love and Religion Demonstrated in the Martyrdom of Theodora and Didymus by Robert Boyle—comes from the hand of stage director Katie Mitchell, who has been giving a feminist, irreverent and iconoclastic reading to the plays she directs for years. In his dramaturgical proposal, Mitchell exposes the story through the lens of contemporary religious terrorism and places the action in a modern embassy, in which Christian employees—a radical religious minority headed by Theodora—work alongside their oppressors until they are defeated. They actively rebel against their tyrannical bosses who subjugate women and religious minorities.
Active and warrior women
Mitchell therefore flees from the vision of Christian women as passive and submissive martyrs who resign themselves to enduring adversity in a stoic manner. On the contrary, it turns the women—both Theodora and Irene—into guerrilla rebels who fight against the system, against archaic patriarchy and for the oppressed classes.
As the labor program itself highlights, Theodora has two peak moments in which its feminist approach stands out: the first is what happens with the edict in which it is decreed that whoever does not worship the Roman gods will be sentenced to death when it is discovered that whoever violates the norm is a woman and the second, the change of roles when Theodora’s lover, Didymus, comes to rescue her. Thus, the play becomes a true thriller, where betrayals and struggles for power are protagonists and in which the patriarchal structures that often dominate theatrical narratives are also questioned.
This is not the only novelty of this co-production of the Royal Theater and the Royal Opera House in London. Already premiering in London in 2022, Theodora It attracted attention for having the help of the intimacy coordinator, Ita O’Brien, in the realization of the scenes of violence and sexual content, a figure also present in the Madrid production. Not in vain, both the Royal Opera House like the Teatro Real, warn in the show sheet that “this production shows violent scenes and contains themes of terrorism, harassment and sexual exploitation.”
With a musical direction by Ivor Bolton, who will conduct his fourth Handel title at the head of the Teatro Real’s Main Orchestra and Choir after the success of Rodelinda (2017), Partenope (2021) and orlando (2023), Theodora is played by soprano Julia Bullock—who starred in The Indian Queen in 2013 under the stage direction of Peter Sellars—who has also actively participated in the dramaturgy of the production. At his side will be the mezzo-soprano Joyce DiDonato who will play Irene, the countertenor Iestyn Davies who will be Didymus, whose role he also played at the Real 15 years ago, the tenor Ed Lyon will be Septimus, Valens will run hand in hand with the bass Callum Thorpe and tenor Thando Mjandana will be in charge of giving life to the Messenger.
Cultural activities around ‘Theodora’
The premiere of this staged version of Handel’s oratorio, whose score he wrote in just over a month, at the age of 65, and was premiered with almost no success in London’s Covent Garden, arrives in Madrid accompanied by a series of cultural activities in which some of those responsible for this production will participate. At the Cerralbo Museum, a unique guided tour focused on the biblical scenes that contain some of the most representative pieces of its collection. For its part, the Real Teatro de Retiro offers on November 17, at 11:00 a.m. and 1:00 p.m., a family musical workshop that explores the sound universe of opera Theodora. And finally, the National Archaeological Museum has designed a guided tour program in which on November 21, at 5:00 p.m., participants will be able to discover what the last centuries of the Roman Empire were like through pieces and works from the collection.
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