Opera returns to Les Arts with ‘Woman at Point Zero’, a multimedia and intercultural ode to female emancipation
12.09.2023
- Laila Soliman, on stage, and Kanako Abe, in musical direction, lead an all-female artistic team
- Videos, audios and music from East and West merge in this newly created opera, presented by Les Arts in collaboration with ENSEMS
Valencia (12.09.23). Les Arts begins its opera season this Friday, September 15, at 7.30 p.m., with the Spanish premiere of 'Woman at Point Zero', a multimedia and intercultural ode to women's freedom, as part of the collaboration between the cultural center and the ENSEMS Festival.
The Teatre Martín i Soler hosts a single performance of this one-hour opera by British-Lebanese composer Bushra El-Turk, based on the novel of the same name by Egyptian writer and feminist Nawal El Saadawi, winner of the Fedora-Generali Prize in 2020.
An all-female artistic and creative team comes together in this international co-production to tell the story of Fatma (Dima Orsho), a former sex worker imprisoned for murdering her violent pimp, and Sama (Carla Nahadi Babelegoto), a young and ambitious documentary filmmaker who wants to tell the prisoner's story.
Stage director Laila Soliman, librettist Stacy Hardy, set designers and filmmakers Bissane Al Charif & Julia König, costume designer Eli Verkeyn and lighting designer Loes Schakenbosc recreate the oppressive and austere environment of an Egyptian women's prison, in which video sequences and recordings merge with the musical traditions of the West with the Middle East, performed by the Ensemble Zar under the direction of the Japanese Kanako Abe.
'Woman at Point Zero' is the result of an international co-production that includes, among others, the Royal Opera House in London, the Festival d'Aix-en-Provence, the LOD muziektheater in Ghent (Belgium), the Snape Maltings in the United Kingdom and the Grand Théâtre in Luxembourg.
The production, which had its world premiere last year at the prestigious French festival, has sparked critical and public interest in its performances on the European opera circuit.
The Teatre Martín i Soler will host a single performance of 'Woman at Point Zero' this Friday, September 15, at 7:30 p.m. Tickets are priced at 20 euros.
