BACK TO THE FUTURE

Battling against bad luck, fate and the gods, Ulysses, war hero and stuff of legend finally makes it home.  Penelope, his wife has waited, Telemachus, his baby boy is now a man.  But will there be a happy ending? Two years in the making, and involving professional singers and around 120 members of the local community, Graham Vick's new production poses the question whether it really is possible to go back or whether the only journey is forwards.

Given Graham Vick's dissatisfaction with the way in which 19th century Wagnerian theatre conventions have got between the audience and the essence of the works performed and prevented them from being vital, visceral experiences, this is indeed a question which Birmingham Opera Company asks each time it reworks an opera.  And the answer, of course, as in Ulysses, is satisfyingly complex.

Ulysses Comes Home opens at Planet Ice on April 29 and continues until May 7. 
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