https://brightonfestival.org/event/13557/the_string_quartets_guide_to_sex_and_anxiety/
A ground-breaking fusion of theatre and classical music awaits at Brighton Festival’s flag-ship show this week.
Sex, anxiety and music have been central to Calixto Bieito’s career as a fearless director of both theatre and opera. So the title of his new ‘theatrical collage’ should come as no surprise to anyone familiar with his work.
‘The String Quartet’s Guide to Sex and Anxiety’ promises an intense and unusual experience. The award winning Heath Quartet provide a soundtrack using the works of Ligetti and Beethoven, while texts written by Robert Burton, Anne Sexton, Stig Dagerman and others are performed by an equally talented quartet of actors; Cathy Tyson, Mairead McKinley, Miltos Yerolemou and Nick Harris.
Bieito describes it as a “symphonic poem”, which looks to explore the modern human condition “and where anxiety and depression stem from”. While the topics of the texts may be challenging (sexual fixation, depression and accidental death), the catharsis in music is something that speaks universally; a “strange and beautiful” experience not to be missed.
