THE LION’S FACE

a chamber opera by Elena Langer to the libretto by Glyn Maxwell

director Morten K. Roesen /Denmark/
conductor Juri Ilinov
scenography and costumes Asya Stoimenova
choreography Carlos Santos

Mr. D /Patient/ – Ignat Zhelev
Mrs. D /Wife of the patient/ – Lilyana Hodzheva
Hospital attendant – Neli Necheva
Daughter of the hospital attendant – Inna Andreeva
Doctor – Teodor Petkov
Boy – Prolet Pencheva

Have you ever encountered an elderly person who doesn’t remember recent events? Does your grandmother seem to live in another world where she thinks that you are a part of her childhood.
The opera gives a unique peek into the life of a person suffering from the mysterious disease. We encounter how a wife loses her beloved husband to the disease, and she becomes unrecognizable to him. He simply doesn’t remember her and is stocked in his old memories from his childhood while the more recent memories have vanished. At the moment there is no cure, no medicine, no light in the end of the tunnel for the family and the close people around him/her.
The music, acting, singing and choreography are all elements which are creating the atmosphere of the Alzheimer’s patient, and the people around him, his wife, the caregiver, her daughter and, of course, the doctor. The idea of the composer Elena Langer and the librettist Glyn Maxwell is that the Patient is an actor and has only spoken lines while the other characters are singing. What a strange universe to encounter for the patient? He speaks while the others are singing.
The message of the opera is that we should be able to accept and forgive each other whatever happens when we might undergo a change while getting older.

Duration: 1 hour 20 minutes without an interval
Performed in English with titles in Bulgarian
The speech dialogues are in Bulgarian.
Premiere: 6 April 2019 – Chamber Stage „In the Pocket 234”