First pictures from eagerly awaited Edward II in Berlin

Agneta Eichenholz, Jarrett Ott, Michael Nagy and Ladislav Elgr (© Monika Rittershaus)

Back in May, we posted about barihunk Michael Nagy would perform the title role in Swiss composer Andrea Lorenzo Scartazzini  new opera about Edward II at the Deutsche Oper Berlin. The production opens on February and we have some photos from the rehearsals, which are going on now.

The opera will have five performances between February 19-March 9, hunkentenor Ladislav Elgr singing the role of his alleged lover Piers de Gaveston and barihunk Jarrett Ott as the Angel.

Two scenes from Edward II (© Monika Rittershaus)

The libretto by Thomas Jonigk focuses entirely on the role of the outsider Edward II and looks at society’s attitude towards homosexuals both then and now. Whether the close bond between Edward and Gaveston in the early 14th century was sexual in nature remains a contested issue, but among art circles Edward II has long been an icon of the gay movement. Gaveston was decapitated for being gay and King Edward II was executed in 1327 by having a red hot roasting spit shoved into his anus.

Michael Nagy in Edward II (© Monika Rittershaus)

The subject matter inspired Christopher Marlowe’s bloody 1593 play about the self-assertive strivings of the hapless English king, the 1923 version by Bertolt Brecht of the same name and Derek Jarman’s 1992 famous film adaptation “Edward II.” 

Scartazzini most recent operatic work was The Sandman, which premiered in 2012 at the Theater Basel with Christof Loy directing. Tickets for Edward II are on sale now online.