Martin Butler

Perseus and Andromeda is a baroque opera for children both young and old based upon extracts from the libretto and music of the popular baroque opera, Persée by the 17th French century composer, Jean Baptiste Lully.

Working with the form of shadow play, they retell the classic story of Perseus and Andromeda, using a series of 167 different moving images.

The shadow play works as a fast action and poetic comic strip, absorbing the children into the world of the classics in a contemporary and accessible way.

Together with a narrator and a live ensemble of five baroque musicians (two baroque violins, baroque cello, harpsichord, and baroque harp) and four singers (soprano, mezzo-soprano, haute-tenor and tenor), they tell the story of Perseus and Andromeda, combing live dancers/performers with objects and puppets, creating a visually strong and easily accessible form of performance for both children and adults to enjoy.

The story of Perseus and Andromeda is divided between a narrator and the shadow play accompanied by the singers. They explain the world, which the audience is going to enter. The world of the baroque, the world of myths, where nymphs and sea monsters, gods and heroes exist.

The arias are song in the original French of Quinault, but the narrator tells the story in the local language accompanied by instrumental interludes.

The original score of Lully is abbreviated to a 75 minute performance.

A Spanish language pilot version premiered in July 2012 in the prestigious Festival de Teatro Clásico de Almagro (Spain) to much success. In 2015 they premiered a Flemish version at AMUZ Antwerpen, and a Danish Version was shown at  the Aalborg Opera and the Copenhagen Renaissance music festival and the European day for Early Music.