"Oedipus: Sex With Mum Was Blinding" by Elli Papakonstantinou

Created & Directed by Elli Papakonstantinou

Role: Woman

An immersive opera which mixes traditional performance with cutting-edge technology and emerging neuroscience, the production draws narrative inspiration from Sophocles’ classic tragedy Oedipus Rex. A 2018-2019 Fulbright Artist’s Award recipient and visiting scholar at Stanford University; 2018-19 “Music Theatre Now” international award recipient, Elli creates her own visually striking, lyric adaptation and explores engaging audiences in a new radical way. By using new technologies which turn the audience into the actual chorus of the opera, the piece rediscovers the community at the heart of a political performance, as it was in the ancient times.

Mythology, pop cultural references, and gender reexaminations feed into this unique theatrical mashup, as an all-female acting ensemble of opera singers and jazz vocalists join forces with musical virtuosos (live augmented cello, piano & new instruments) on stage for a deep-dive into a haunting mind game. Partly developed during the director’s stay at the Center for Computer Research in Music & Acoustics (CCRMA), Stanford University, “OEDIPUS: Sex with Mum Was Blinding” also has artists and scientists joining forces on a new neuroscientific case study. The study explores the questions: “Are we free?”, “Dο we experience free will?”, Are there real alternatives, or is all that takes place the outcome of necessity?”. An exploration into Determinism and Self, the answers describe either our majesty or captivity.

Source: Brooklyn Academy of Music (BAM)

ODC Ensemble (Athens, Greece) with
The Directors Company

OEDIPUS:
Sex with Mum Was Blinding

An Immersive Opera
Conceived, written and directed by
Elli Papakonstantinou

Original Music Composed by
Tilemachos Moussas
and Julia Kent

Cinematic Environments by
Stephanie Sherriff

Lighting design: Elli Papakonstantinou
Mask concepts, design and materialization: Maritina Keleri & Chrysanthi Avloniti
Costume Design: Jolene Richardson

Featuring
Nassia Gofa, Elias Husiak, Anastasia Katsinavaki, Theodora Loukas, Lito Messini, Manos Tsakiris, Julia Kent (cello), Misha Piatigorsky (piano), Hassan Estakhrian, Barbara Nerness (electroacoustic environments), and Stephanie Sherriff (live cinematic environment)

Scientific Advisor: Professor Manos Tsakiris

This immersive opera, which mixes traditional performance with cutting-edge technology and emerging neuroscience, draws narrative inspiration from Sophocles’ classic tragedy Oedipus Rex. Elli Papakonstantinou—a 2018-19 Fulbright Artist’s Award recipient, visiting scholar at Stanford University, and 2018-19 Music Theatre Now international award recipient—creates her own visually striking, lyric adaptation to engage audiences in a new and radical way. Using new technologies which turn the audience into the actual chorus of the opera, the piece rediscovers the community at the heart of a political performance, as it was in ancient times.

Mythology, pop cultural references, and gender reexamination feed into this unique theatrical mash-up, as an all-female acting ensemble of opera singers and jazz vocalists join forces with musical virtuosos—live augmented cello, piano, and new instruments—on stage for a deep-dive into a haunting mind game.

Partly developed during the director’s stay at the Center for Computer Research in Music and Acoustics at Stanford University, OEDIPUS: Sex with Mum Was Blinding also sees artists and scientists joining forces on a new neuroscientific case study. The study asks: Are we free? Dο we experience free will? Are there real alternatives, or is all that takes place the outcome of necessity? An exploration into determinism and self, the answers describe either our majesty or captivity.

“OEDIPUS: Sex with Mum Was Blinding” premiered at CCRMA, Stanford University on April 4, 2019, produced by ODC Ensemble. “OEDIPUS: Sex with Mum Was Blinding” is supported by the Fulbright Foundation; the Neon Foundation; the J.F. Costopoulos Foundation; the Hellenic Republic, Ministry of Culture and

Sports, Stanford University, and CCRMA. The advisor to the project is Professor Manos Tsakiris, Professor of Psychology, University of London (manostsakiris.com). The study’s Research and Application Developers are Constantin Basica (constantinbasica.com) and Romain Michon (ccrma.stanford.edu/~RMICHON).