Platée

ABOUT THE OPERA

After fifteen years, the repertoire of the National Theatre welcomes back a Baroque opera, and after a long twenty-five years, it is the work of the French opera guru of the 18th century, Jean-Philippe Rameau. Specifically, it is his world-renowned "comédie lyrique" Platée, which, however, has never been performed in the history of the National Theatre, the State Opera, or its predecessor, the New German Theatre.

Performed by:

Collegium Vocale 1704 State Opera Orchestra

About the Comedy:

This comedy revolves around a hideous nymph who is convinced by the highest god, Jupiter, that he loves her. In 1745, this opera was chosen by the French monarch Louis XV, along with two other operas, to celebrate the marriage of his son to the Spanish Infanta Maria Teresa, who was rumored to have lacked beauty. Whether the choice of Rameau's Platée was intentionally a mischievous joke by the future Infanta's father-in-law is a matter of speculation. If so, then the king's dramaturgical choice was indeed accurate (and quite incorrect) for other reasons as well. Rameau's Platée not only makes fun of one ugly fairy but also of the "sacred" social institution itself: of the pathologically jealous wives and, of course, of the timid and therefore very inventive husbands who cannot avoid various marital troubles even when they are Olympian gods...

About the Production Team:

The directorial duo SKUTR, responsible for our production, drew inspiration from both the aforementioned fact that the world premiere of Rameau's Platée took place at a wedding and the allegorical prologue to this opera, in which Comedy is born from wine...

Come and see what can happen at one "baroque" wedding.

Conductor: Václav Luks

Direction: SKUTR (Martin Kukučka and Lukáš Trpišovský)

Choreography: Jan Kodet

Set Design: Jakub Kopecký

Costume Design: Simona Rybáková

Dramaturgy: Ondřej Hučín