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The Minotaur

This opera examines the anthropocentric notion of what is ‘bestial’. The Minotaur is referred to as ‘the half-and-half’. It’s this bifurcated nature that is under scrutiny: the man/beast duality which is, paradoxically, both conflation and division.

It’s clear that, behind this concept lies a crucial social parallel: the demonisation of the stranger or outcast. In the creation of the libretto, this was a constant theme and point of reference. Picasso’s ‘Vollard Suite’ was a reference tool throughout.

The opera is radical in its depiction of the minotaur as vulnerable and conflicted. The creature is presented as the only true innocent among the principals: a version of the beast-in-man as paradigmatic. ‘I look through the eyes of the beast to find the man’: this line is central to the way in which the libretto reassesses the minotaur as a creature blameless and afflicted. Significantly, his ‘release into language’ (when his humanness is superincumbent) comes only in dreams or at the point of death. This narrative shift, together with the wholesale reassessment of the nature of the minotaur, makes for a radical reworking of the myth.

The Minotaur is one of a series of Harsent’s libretti which address research questions about the drawing out, through staged language, of elements of conflict in ancient myth still pertinent to contemporary concerns. Interviews with Harsent (see portfolio) illustrate that his dynamic relationship with the composer, opera company and design team lies at the heart of his creative ethos. Harsent’s libretti engage with questions about: the nature of performance; the relationship between composer and librettist; the staging of operatic storytelling; and postmodern concerns about the intertextuality and heteroglossia at the heart of literary constructions. His work promotes representations which reach out across multiple performance spaces and interdisciplinary boundaries.