Creative team quit Dutch National Opera

We hear that the leading choreographer-director Wayne McGregor has left the upcoming productions of Stravinsky’s Oedipus Rex and Samy Moussa’s Antigone. Also leaving are designer Vicki Mortimer and the actor Ben Whishaw, who was supposed to be the Speaker.

The Dutch are being economical with the facts:

We hereby inform you as a visitor about a change in the production, with the original title Jocasta’s Line. Because director and choreographer Wayne McGregor had to withdraw from the production due to private circumstances, we regret that it is not possible to bring his vision of this diptych to our stage. However, we are pleased and grateful that we have been able to put together a new artistic team at such short notice, allowing both works – Stravinsky’s Oedipus Rex and Samy Moussa’s Antigone – to have their (world) premiere.

The new production, entitled Oedipus Rex / Antigone, will be led by both the Dutch director Mart van Berckel (who created the controversial Ändere die Welt! during the Opera Forward Festival 2023) and the Dutch choreographer and director Nanine Linning, director of Scapino Ballet Rotterdam. Together they will merge the worlds of classical tragedy and contemporary music in a unique theatrical experience. The cast of singers and musicians remains unchanged: you can still enjoy international stars who share the stage with our impressive men’s and women’s choir. The involvement of the dancers of Dutch National Ballet will be more limited than originally planned.