The Theatre Breakfast dedicated to the upcoming premiere of the ballet Othello will take place on 19 June at 10 a.m. at the Mila Dimitrijević House, 19 Mesićeva Street. This is the third ballet based on Shakespeare in Valentina Turcu’s extensive engagement with literary classics, which she has transformed into powerful events and experiences of dance and theatre. Following Romeo and Juliet (2012, SNG Maribor) and Hamlet (2024, Béjart Ballet Lausanne), the author, who has since established herself as one of Europe’s leading contemporary choreographers, this time turned to one of Shakespeare’s works that speaks most directly to the present day.
At the invitation of Massimiliano Volpini, Artistic Director of Ballet, who will open the Theatre Breakfast by welcoming the audience, Valentina Turcu has responded in a deeply personal, distinctly choreographic and virtuosic, thoughtful, and passionate manner. Othello is a fierce dance drama immersed in a world of war, male violence, and mounting psychosis that permeates every aspect of life. (Even Desdemona is portrayed as Othello’s “beautiful warrior”.) It is an ideal setting for demonically distorted souls, wounded by resentment and envy, hiding behind masks of goodwill. “I am not what I am,” confesses Shakespeare’s Iago, and his lies begin to shape human destinies and the course of the story with astonishing ease. And that is terrifying.
At the Theatre Breakfast, we will discuss with the choreographer her staging of Othello as a world according to Iago: a violent world in which we grow ever more anxious, vulnerable, insecure, and angry. We will also explore the musical score of the production, marking Valentina Turcu’s return to the music of Gustav Mahler in relation to her first independent creation in Zagreb, the acclaimed ballet Death in Venice (2018). Following Madame Bovary (2022), Othello is Valentina Turcu’s third ballet production for the Croatian National Theatre in Zagreb. During the process, she developed an exceptionally creative approach with the dancers, focused on dramatic crediblity and a profound personal immersion in the role. This process will be discussed by the production’s leading performers: Iva Vitić Gameiro (Desdemona), Guilherme Gameiro Alves (Othello), and Takuya Sumitomo (Iago).
This edition of the Theatre Breakfast will be curated and moderated by Maja Đurinović.
