In Context: Strange Window: The Turn of the Screw

A lone governess caught between memory and nightmare weaves a chilling tale made startlingly relevant as her sanity comes into question. Truth, it appears, is relative. A seductive retelling of the Henry James classic by The Builders Association, Strange Window: The Turn of the Screw brings technological stagecraft to the traditional theater format. Context is everything, so we’ve provided some articles to read and videos to watch. After you’ve attended the show, let us know what you thought by posting in the comments below and on social media using #StrangeWindow.

In Context: The Hard Nut

Mark Morris Dance Group’s beloved retro-modern reimagining of The Nutcracker, The Hard Nut, comes back to BAM for the holidays, playfully preserving the warm spirit of an essential holiday tradition Context is everything, so get even closer to the production with this curated selection of related articles and videos. After you've attended the show, let us know what you thought by posting in the comments below and on social media using #BAMNextWave.

How a 1937 Lifeguard Manual and Other Found Texts Became The Good Swimmer

A pop requiem for lives lost at war, The Good Swimmer is a visceral music theater piece by composer Heidi Rodewald (Passing Strange), lyricist Donna Di Novelli, and director Kevin Newbury. The show follows a young beach lifeguard who grapples with the legacy of the one she could not save: her brother who died in Vietnam.

Seven years in the making, The Good Swimmer started at a bookshop in Connecticut, where Rodewald and Di Novelli found a 1937 American lifeguard manual that somehow struck a chord. After reading only a few lines, they knew they had discovered something truly great—and Di Novelli got to work composing a libretto.

The Governess or the Ghosts?

Sipiwe Moyo, Hannah Heller, Sean Donovan. Photo: James Gibbs.

By Harry Haun

Blood will tell—and did: Henry James—writer/brother of the “Father of American psychology,” William James—crisscrossed the psychological with the supernatural, slyly added a pinch of sex to keep you riveted, and invented the cerebral ghost story.

His farthest reach at this, The Turn of the Screw, unraveled in 12 magazine-serial installments in Collier’s Weekly (Jan 27—Apr 16, 1898) and later that year in one lump sum with another James yarn published together as The Two Magics.

Dreadful Knowledge

Oh, the Oedipus complex. A story recapitulated over centuries and made particularly popular thanks to a simultaneously concerning and endlessly intriguing Freudian interpretation. When Mark Anthony-Turnage’s seminal opera Greek comes to BAM in a bawdy new production next Wed, Dec 5, audiences will experience the infamous story as never before. Greek transposes antihero Oedipus to 1980s Thatcher-era London, where police brutality, social upheaval, and economic crises reign. Based on Steven Berkoff’s play Greek, the opera elevates Oedipal themes of fate, family, escape, love, and the unknown—offering an unexpected and bold conclusion to a tale many assume they know all too well.

To prepare for this reinvented Oedipus, we partnered with illustrator Nathan Gelgud to break down the pivotal themes and moments for audiences both familiar and new to this thought-provoking tale. We predict you’ll have a new outlook on knowing your fate and fortune.

In Context: Greek

From composer Mark-Anthony Turnage and director Joe Hill-Gibbons, Greek is an in-your-face operatic retelling of the Oedipus tale set in 1980s London. Coursing with sharp and scathing political commentary, Greek maintains its shock value, social relevancy, and cultural weight 30 years after the original premiere. Context is everything, so get even closer to the production with this curated selection of related articles and videos. After you've attended the show, let us know what you thought by posting in the comments below and on social media using #BAMNextWave.

In Context: NERVOUS/SYSTEM

From interactive media artist Andrew Schneider, NERVOUS/SYSTEM interrogates what we miss in a world ruled by distractions. By utilizing technology to create an immersive experience that is both visual and physical, Schneider and his collaborators push the boundaries of traditional theater and performance to decode the stories we miss each time we blink. Context is everything, so get even closer to the production with this curated selection of related articles and videos. After you've attended the show, let us know what you thought by posting in the comments below and on social media using #BAMNextWave.

In Context: The Good Swimmer

Heidi Rodewald composes propulsive music to accompany Donna Di Novelli’s powerful lyrics for The Good Swimmer, a project seven years in the making. A young lifeguard grapples with the legacy of the one she could not save, her brother in Vietnam. This music-theater pop requiem transcends time and brings to the forefront the senselessness of war, begging the question, how do we truly honor our fallen soldiers? Context is everything, so we’ve provided some content for you to read and watch. After you’ve attended the show, let us know what you thought by posting in the comments below and on social media using #GoodSwimmer.

In Context: Elemental

Electrifying tap dance company Dorrance Dance makes its BAM debut with a new site-specific work co-choreographed by Michelle Dorrance and Nicholas Van Young. Context is everything, so get even closer to the production with this curated selection of related articles and videos. After you've attended the show, let us know what you thought by posting in the comments below and on social media using #BAMNextWave.

In Context: The White Album

Lars Jan’s multi-layered vision of Joan Didion’s essay juxtaposes the author’s searing text—performed in its entirety—with a glassed-in microcosm of social unraveling. Context is everything, so get even closer to the production with this curated selection of related articles and videos. After you've attended the show, let us know what you thought by posting in the comments below and on social media using #BAMNextWave.

“The country’s in a state of plague.”

Greek and the Tragedy of Thatcherite Individualism

Photo Credit: Jane Hobson.

By Chris Tyler

In Mark-Anthony Turnage’s Greek–coming to the BAM Howard Gilman Opera House Dec 5–9–audiences will find themselves transported to a dystopian 1980s London plagued by police violence, racism, and socioeconomic decay. If this litany of ills feels close to home, it’s likely because the U.K. under Thatcher shared quite a bit in common with the U.S. under Trump.

Beyond the Canon: Wanda + Bonnie and Clyde

Wanda (1970), courtesy of Janus Films; Bonnie and Clyde (1967), courtesy of Warner Bros/Photofest

It is no secret that the cinema canon has historically skewed toward lionizing the white, male auteur. Beyond the Canon is a monthly series that seeks to question that history and broaden horizons by pairing one much-loved, highly regarded, canonized classic with a thematically or stylistically-related—and equally brilliant—work by a filmmaker traditionally excluded from that discussion. This month’s double feature pairs Barbara Loden’s Wanda (1970) with Arthur Penn’s Bonnie and Clyde (1967) screening Sat, Nov 24 at 4:30pm.

By Kristen Yoonsoo Kim

In Context: Voyage of Time

Voyage of Time, director Terrence Malick’s love letter to the universe, is a visually expansive, emotionally impactful meditation on the origins of human life, creativity, and connection. The #BAMNextWave screening will feature an immersive live score from Wordless Music Orchestra and narration from Baby Driver actress Lily James. Context is everything, so we’ve provided a curated selection of articles and videos for you to engage with before seeing the piece. After you’ve attended the show, let us know what you thought by posting in the comments below and on social media using #BAMNextWave.

A 20th-century Everyman

Photo: Jane Hobson

By Tim Ashley

This article was originally published in the Edinburgh International Festival programme, where the Next Wave Festival presentation of Greek (Dec 5-9) premiered in 2017.

Sigmund Freud first posited the idea of the Oedipus complex in The Interpretation of Dreams, published in November 1899. In a move itself riddled with significance, however, he insisted that the date on the title-page be changed to 1900: psychoanalysis was to be a new science for a new century; Oedipal theory, in which a child’s first sexual and aggressive instincts are turned towards its mother and father respectively, rapidly emerged as its central tenet; and Oedipus himself, who unwittingly acted on impulses normally repressed out of moral revulsion, in consequence became a 20th-century Everyman.

Under Our (BAM Film) Umbrella

Photo: courtesy of BAM Hamm Archives

By Gina Duncan, Associate Vice President, Film

Film is just one of the many art forms BAM employs in its mission to provide a home for adventurous artists, audiences, and ideas. And while the moving image has been featured in BAM’s programming since the very early days of the medium, it wasn’t until November 1998 that film had a dedicated and permanent home at BAM. Twenty years later, it is a major, and growing, part of Brooklyn’s cultural landscape.

Forever Young

Mark Morris (Mr. Stahlbaum), Lauren Grant (Marie), and John Heginbotham (Mrs. Stahlbaum). Photo Susana Millman

Mark Morris Dance Group’s The Hard Nut returns to the Howard Gilman Opera House (Dec 14—23). We spoke with some dancers who have held longtime roles.

Greek: History, Repeating

Allison Cook, Susan Bullock, Andrew Shore. Photo: Jane Hobson 

Mark-Anthony Turnage’s groundbreaking and profane 1988 two-act opera, Greek, was set in Britain’s Thatcher era. Based on the in-your-face stage play by Steven Berkoff (adapted by Turnage and Jonathan Moore), Greek’s bleak humor and exploration of social and political unrest continue to resonate. Scottish Opera/Opera Ventures’ acclaimed new production is presented in its New York premiere—the engagement also marks the New York premiere of Greek (Dec 5—9), now a cult classic in the contemporary chamber opera repertoire. Director Joe Hill-Gibbins answered some questions about Greek.

In Context: Circus: Wandering City

Adventurous string quartet ETHEL pays tribute to the legends behind the Circus, featuring archival imagery and firsthand accounts from contemporary circus performers. Context is everything, so we’ve provided a curated selection of articles and videos for you to engage with before seeing the piece. After you’ve attended the show, let us know what you thought by posting in the comments below and on social media using #BAMNextWave.

In Context: Halfway to Dawn

David Roussève/REALITY (Love Songs, Next Wave 1999) returns to BAM for the first time in almost two decades with the NY Premiere of Halfway to Dawn, a jubilant dance-theater work celebrating the life of composer and arranger Billy Strayhorn, best known for his standard, “Take the ‘A’ Train,” and as Duke Ellington’s collaborator. In this recent work, the Guggenheim fellow and Bessie award-winning choreographer Roussève meditates on the life and legacy of Strayhorn, layering dance, text, abstract video imagery, and sound design to create a portrait of the jazz virtuoso. Context is everything, so get even closer to the production with this curated selection of related articles and videos. After you've attended the show, let us know what you thought by posting in the comments below and on social media using #BAMNextWave.

The Greek Legacy

By Andrew Clements

This article was originally published in the Edinburgh International Festival programme, where the Next Wave Festival presentation of Greek (Dec 5-9) premiered in 2017.

In March 2018 the Royal Opera gave the first performance of Mark-Anthony Turnage’s latest stage work, Coraline, an ‘opera for family audiences’ based on the 2002 fantasy novella by Neil Gaiman. It was Turnage’s second commission from the Royal Opera. The previous one, Anna Nicole, had its premiere at Covent Garden in 2011 to the accompaniment of more hype and razzamatazz than any other new work introduced there in the previous 30 years. Anna Nicole had its US premiere at the 2013 BAM Next Wave Festival to similar fanfare. Turnage has travelled a long way from the operatic debutant who composed Greek in the mid-1980s and who at the time wondered whether he had been wise to get involved in such an artistically treacherous art form. ‘I didn’t want to write an opera at all’, he has said of his feelings then. ‘I agreed with Boulez about burning down the opera houses... Opera was not a natural thing for me and I had no interest in it until I decided to do Greek.’

The White Album Comes Alive

By Nicole Serratore

Photo: Lars Jan

“We tell ourselves stories in order to live.”

With that succinct opening sentence in her essay, The White Album, Joan Didion probes the identity of the artist, the act of writing, and our compulsion towards narrative. But is her storytelling an artistic venture or a cry for help—or both?

Interview with Satyagraha director Tilde Björfors

A conversation between dramatist Magnus Lindman and director Tilde Björfors

Lindman: So, how much is a circus director enjoying opera?

Björfors: I have come to appreciate that Glass’ music is perfect circus music. There’s something about this sense of the ecstatic, that the music is continuously reaching new heights with minor tweaks that suit the circus we are making here. There are plenty of similarities between circus and opera. They are two incredibly virtuosic art forms. Both try to make the impossible possible and cross the physical and perhaps mental borders of what we humans are capable of doing. We have a center for weightlessness in our brain that develops in the womb as we float around. And it is activated when we see people flying. A physical sensation that we otherwise have forgotten about.