Page 15 - Programme

Opera Interactively Into Schools 15

Synopsis 28 July 1194 B.C. A party in Sparta. Behind us stands
Jupiter’s temple and in front of us, ladies and gentlemen,
of the behold… The Trojan War. Do not be alarmed though, we
are not going to miss our holiday at the beach. The Trojan
work War hasn’t started yet because Hélène… has not yet been
abducted. Whoopsie! Spoiler alert!

Act I
The story begins at the Spartan agora, where all
heroes are gathered to discuss. Pâris disguised as
a shepherd meets the seer Calchas. He gives him a
letter from goddess Aphrodite that makes Calchas
realise who the shepherd really is. Pâris tells the story
of the apple of discord, explaining why he is in Sparta.
Hélène is peeking at Pâris and the two of them are soon
introduced to each other. The action is moved to the
intelligence tournament in Sparta, in which Achille, Ajax
and Bacchis are taking part. The competition begins,
but contestants cannot find the correct answer to the
first test. Hélène, wanting to help Pâris, sends him the
answer through a young maid. Paris answers correctly
and the crowd cheers for the winner. The tests continue
and Paris turns out to be the big winner of the games.
After the end of the games, Calchas tells Ménélas that
by Zeus’ order he must immediately go to Crete.
Act II

A month later and while Ménélas is on Crete, Hélène
spends her time knitting in her room. At night Pâris
stands outside her door. One evening he decides to
knock on her door, but Hélène refuses to let him in.
They just stay there talking to each other behind the
closed door. Pâris, angry, is ready to leave, but Hélène
eventually decides to open the door. Between dream
and reality, she converses with Pâris and comes closer
to him. Yet all this stops with Ménélas’ unexpected
arrival in Sparta. Ménélas accuses Hélène of infidelity,
the situation becomes complicated, and Hélène asks
Pâris to leave Sparta.
Act III

A week later all the heroes are in Nafplion. In the summer
resort of Sparta the heroes are swimming, dancing and
drinking. While they are endlessly partying, goddess
Aphrodite, enraged with the Spartans who stood in
the way of Pâris and Hélène’s affair, takes revenge on
them by making Spartan women roam wildly, freely
celebrating love and forgetting all social conventions.