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Work of the Week – Thierry Pécou: Until the Lions
- 19 Sep 2022
After a somewhat rocky start, Thierry Pécou’s latest opera Until the Lions will receive its premiere on September 25th 2022, having been originally planned for March 21st 2020. French conductor Marie Jacquot is leading the Orchestre symphonique de Mulhouse, alongside British director and choreographer Shobana Jeyasingh.
Until the Lions addresses important questions surrounding gender identity, and thus one of the oldest poetic works of the world is moulded into a new, relevant form. This work by Thierry Pécou is based on a story in the Mahabharata, the most famous Indian epos. Poetically adapted by Karthika Naïr, it contains over 200,000 verses and is the world’s largest poetic work.
Gender nonconformities dating back thousands of years in Thierry Pécou’s Until the Lions
Through the tale of a fight between two opposing royal families, themes of creation, karma and rebirth are transmitted, with the condemnation of violence induced war giving its victims a voice. Until the Lions focuses on the story of Princess Amba who refuses to get married against her will. She has to be reborn as a man to get her revenge. The title is a nod to an African saying:
„Until the lions have their own historians, the history of the hunt will always glorify the hunter“
We look forward to four performances of Until the Lions between the 25th to the 30th of September at the Opéra national du Rhin in Strasbourg and following that on the 9th and 11th of October in Moulhouse.
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