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Bluebeard's Castle by Bartók

 
Johanna Makelainen Review by Johanna Makelainen 3 Published: 3 Aug 2025 Old Saint Paul's Church Show Dates: 1 Aug 2025-24 Aug 2025

Bluebeard’s Castle is a haunting one-act chamber opera for two voices and piano, set in the atmospheric Old St Paul’s Church. Béla Bartók’s work, which premiered in Budapest in 1918 to a libretto by Béla Balázs, offers a chilling glimpse into the darkest corners of the human psyche.

Symbolically, the doors reveal layers of Bluebeard’s inner life: his secrets, vulnerabilities and traumas

The plot follows Duke Bluebeard, who brings his new wife Judith to his shadowy castle, where seven locked doors conceal symbolic secrets. One by one, she opens them: a torture chamber, armoury, treasury, garden, vast domain, and a lake of tears – each stained with blood. Behind the final door stand Bluebeard’s former wives in silent horror as Judith joins them.

Symbolically, the doors reveal layers of Bluebeard’s inner life: his secrets, vulnerabilities and traumas. Judith’s determination to see them all reflects the human desire for complete intimacy, while the blood-stained visions suggest the cost of knowing too much.

Old St Paul’s proves an inspired venue: its soaring columns and shadows evoke the oppressive weight of Bluebeard’s castle, with a chill that seeps into the audience. James Corrigan’s baritone as Bluebeard is rich and authoritative, balancing power with vulnerability. Mezzo-soprano Catherine Backhouse as Judith moves convincingly from fierce curiosity to tragic resignation.

However, Bartók’s music is best experienced with a full orchestra. Despite Lliam Paterson’s mastery at the piano, the accompaniment cannot always achieve the necessary legato and variety. Using the church organ at a key moment heightens the gothic atmosphere, so it could have been utilised more.

Minimal staging leaves much to the imagination. Perhaps too much, as even the crucial seven doors are only hinted at. In the church’s resonant acoustics, the text sometimes blurs, making the plot harder to follow for newcomers. The result is beautiful, unsettling yet emotionally distant.

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The Blurb:

In Duke Bluebeard’s Castle, his new wife Judith unlocks it’s seven mysterious doors one by one, each revealing its own horror... Bartók’s one act opera is a 20th-century masterpiece and a work of extraordinary atmosphere, astonishing theatrical power and beauty. Old Saint Paul’s church becomes the oppressive gothic castle in this dark psychological drama performed by two acclaimed professional opera singers in a reduced and intimate semi-staged english language version. Experience the visceral power of live, unamplified world-class singing and acting. Catherine Backhouse (Judith), James Corrigan (Bluebeard), Lliam Paterson (piano), Mark Burns (director)