CityLife

MIF: It's opera - with strings attached

FOR their contribution to the Manchester International Festival, the cult puppetry company Faulty Optic and composer Mira Calix have re-invented the ancient myth of Orpheus as their unique way of celebrating the 400th anniversary of opera.

Using puppets, film, laptops and live musicians, Dead Wedding tells the story of Orpheus and his love for Eurydice.

When she dies on their wedding day, a distraught Orpheus bargains with Pluto, the God of Hades, to bring her back from the Land Of The Dead.

But he breaks the deal and Eurydice is lost forever. Orpheus' moans of anguish enrage Bacchae, who rips him to shreds. Orpheus remarries Eurydice in the Underworld and, for a while, all seems fine, as if they can be together through eternity.

But distant memories return to send ripples through the whole of the Underworld.

"Opera has been an important mainstay of the arts for 400 years," observes festival director Alex Poots, "but this new interpretation of this classic story will take the form to a new level".

Dead Wedding is a Manchester International Festival Commission. It's at the Library Theatre from Thursday, July 5 until Saturday, July 7.