I went to see Duke Bluebeard's Castle at the Colloseum this november and loved it. The disturbing nature of the sexism and objectification over women reminded me so much of Paula Rego's work. The power of the lead female Judith is immense on stage, but what is even more powerful is the force that she is degraded by the Fritzl style character who traps her in his castle, in which his huge incestual family live already. He gradually gets her covered in blood from the various rooms he exposes her too; none of the blood yet is hers- all fresh from the other women he was claimed his own- a very disturbing visual feature of the production. The metaphorical imagery is amazing, and the set design is the best i've ever seen anywhere- its phenomenal. The textures and layers of the set reveal dirt and rubble in contrast to completely fake bright flowers, building blocks and jeweled manikins. There are creepy, rusty tricycles and toys that his children play with, oblivious to how wrong this all is. They play content, having never experienced an outside life, again, all very disturbing. Creepy sums up the whole production really, and the schizophrenic nature with which he abuses and then adores his wife, is especially strong.
The ending in particular rang resonances of Rego's 'Dog women" paintings. In the opera the four women lie down on a rugged stained mattress, with the duke in the centre holding a knife, and with their thighs split open, covered in dry blood and dirt- succumbing to his power. It is both horrifying but artistically stunning at the same time- exactly like Rego's thirst for "Gruesome Beauty" as seen in the article. It was almost like a 3D production of Paula Regos work- like a show case- beautifully shocking.
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