19:00-19:35, Thursday 10th September 2026
The Cockpit
Music: Goi Ywei Chern
Electronics: Efe Yüksel
Director/Librettist: Mayra Stergiou
Orpheus and Eurydice is a contemporary chamber opera and dark comedy inspired by the Greek myth. Twenty years after descending into the underworld, Orpheus has forgotten why he is there. He and Eurydice live inside in their grave, as if it were a small apartment: they wake up every day, drink tea, read the news, water the plants, and sleep, repeating the same ritual day after day. But one evening Orpheus’ memory begins to return and this is changing everything.
With Bauhaus, and queer futuristic aesthetics, this new opera is a surreal descent into the folly of the underworld of love and loss in a complex political climate resembling the pre Second World War Era. A surreal opera about love and loss, the horrors of repetition and all things bizarre that the underworld can hold. An operatic ode to antimilitarism and an antidote to the growing fascism through the timelessness of love.
Age range: All ages, but mostly adults.
In a festival of new work, please note that shows can often overrun.
Produced by Vertebra Theatre CIC / Mayra Stergiou
Venue: The Cockpit, Gateforth Street, London NW8 8EH.
Instagram (Director/Librettist)
Music: Elif Karlidag Director / Librettist: Mayra Stergiou Dramaturg: Sam Redway AV Designer: Utkucan Eken Producer: Vertebra Theatre
Orpheus: Alexandra Achillea
Hades and dancer: Benjamin Press
Persephone and Eyridice: Claire Monique Martin
Creative Team:
Composer: Goi Ywei Chern
Electronics: Efe Yüksel
Librettist/Director/Scenographer: Mayra Stergiou
Dramaturg: Sam Redway
Répétiteur/Vocal Coach: Emanuel Samant – Crampton
Costume Designer: Georgia Moditi
Production: Vertebra Theatre CIC