One of Europe’s most sought after directors Calixto Bieito will bring his incredible new production to Brighton Festival. The festival is now the largest and most established annual curated multi-arts festival in England. They introduced Guest Directors in 2009 with Anish Kapoor and for this years festival they have invited much-love Brighton artist David Shrigley to take the post. ‘The String Quartet’s Guide to Sex and Anxiety’ is among some very good company for this years festival but is not one to miss.
Calixto Bieito is known for his radical reinterpretations of classic operas and plays. For this particular piece he drew inspiration from ‘The Burnout Society’ by the Korean-German philosopher Byung-Chul Han and ‘The Anatomy of Melancholy’, a 1621 essay written by Robert Burton who was one of the first to write about psychological disorders as a symptom and reflection of modern times. Bieito said his work is “like a symphonic poem for a quartet of musicians, and a quartet of voices. It will consider the human condition today, and where anxiety and depression come from”.
Calixto Bieito will direct an extremely talented quartet of actors, Cathy Tyson, Mairead McKinley, Miltos Yerolemou and Nick Harris with their experiences ranging from screen to stage to television.. Miltos Yerolemou’s credits span far and wide, including ‘Star Wars: The Force Awakens’, Syrio Forel in ‘Game of Thrones’ as well as stage productions of ‘King Lear’, ‘A Midsummer Night’s Dream’ and ‘Great Expectations’. Cathy Tyson is a BAFTA and Golden Globe-nominated actress, best known for her role in multi-award winning film ‘Mona Lisa’ and recent ITV series ‘Band of Gold’. She has also taken the lead role in many Shakespeare plays. Finally in the very experienced cast is Mairead McKinley. She’s a stage actress first-and-foremost and has been seen all over the country in plays such as, ‘The Hour We Knew Nothing Of Each Other’, ‘Filthy Business’ and the National Theatre’s ‘Cyrano De Bergerac’. Most recently she appeared in critically-acclaimed Hitchcock adaption ‘North By Northwest’.
Accompanying the actors will be the Heath Quartet. They have won a multitude of awards over the 16 years they have been together, most notably they were the first ensemble in fifteen years to win the prestigious ‘Royal Philharmonic Society’s Young Artists Award’. The music performed will include Beethoven’s String Quartet No. 15 in A Minor, Op. 132 and Ligetti’s String Quartet No.2. Bieito said of his work “The show will be about how the current times are affecting the quality of our lives as well as our fears, and I hope it will be both entertaining and enlightening.”
Calixto Bieito’s work will shown at Theatre Royal over Brighton Festival. Contact the Brighton Festival box office for more information.
