The BBC has announced that it is to screen ENO’s production of Berlioz’s The Damnation of Faust, directed by former Monty Python member Terry Gilliam.
Gilliam’s re-imagining of Berlioz’s work – which is more oratorio than opera – has won impressive plaudits. Fiona Maddocks, former editor of BBC Music Magazine and opera critic for The Observer called it ‘a superbly staged, ingenious production’.
This is the first opera Gilliam has directed. He is better known as the animator (and occasional actor) of Monty Python and the director of films including Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas and Brazil.
John Berry, artistic director of ENO said he was delighted about the broadcast and added ‘Terry Gilliam and ENO have set the benchmark for Berlioz's extraordinary piece’.
Gilliam will introduce the broadcast on BBC Four which will go out some time in the autumn. The Damnation of Faust is currently running at the Coliseum in London until 7 June and stars Christine Rice, Peter Hoare and Christopher Purves.
Elizabeth Davis