Die Frau ohne Schatten - Edinburgh Festival Guide

When spirits enter the human world they can bring only ruin. The daughter of the King of the Spirits is barren – she is a woman without a shadow. Her father has threatened that if she doesn’t cast a shadow before the end of the twelfth moon, her husband, the Emperor, will be turned to stone. Only a human woman can help her…

An unhappy young wife, married to a poor dyer, is tempted by thoughts of a luxurious life, free from the numbing boredom and drudgery of her daily existence. All she has to do is give up her shadow. Die Frau ohne Schatten is a sublime operatic fantasy in which the lives of humans and spirits become ever more tragically intertwined.

Requiring huge forces, Die Frau ohne Schatten boasts perhaps Strauss’s most sumptuous score, poignantly illuminating the magic, mystery and earthy warmth of Hugo von Hofmannsthal’s characters. Led by Valery Gergiev, this epic production from St Peterburg’s famed Mariinsky Opera is a collaboration between two British artists, director Jonathan Kent and designer Paul Brown. Die Frau ohne Schatten is a spectacular and opulent dramatic tour de force, radiantly evoking the contrasts between the spirit world and human existence.

Supported by Harold Mitchell Esq, AC
Mariinsky UK tour Supported by BP