Hailed by Stephen Daldry as 'one of the dozENOr so most important theatre directors working anywhere in the world', Simon McBurney, Artistic Director of Complicite, makes his operatic debut with the premiere of a new work proudly following in the absurdist tradition of Shostakovich's The Nose and Schnittke's Life with an Idiot, both former ENO successes. Based on Mikhail Bulgakov's once-banned satire on the New Soviet Man, Alexander Raskatov's A Dog's Heart tells of a stray mongrel who becomes human after an experimental organ transplant. But, as the Professor soon discovers to his cost, a beast is still a beast, even if it looks like a man.
For this exciting new co-production with De Nederlandse Opera in collaboration with Complicite, we welcome back two of the team behind Anthony Minghella's Olivier Award-winning Madam Butterfly: set designer Michael Levine and master puppeteers Blind Summit Theatre, who created the eerily human puppet of Butterfly's child and will here bring Sharik the dog to life.
