roh 12/07/2010
Salome [enter her name]
Jokaanan [enter his name]
Director David McVicar
Conductor [enter his name]
1 Two of us were in familiar standing places for this production, one which we had seen. We knew what to expect; that is, we thought we knew. At the end, as the naked Executioner, on Herod's instruction, killed Salome by breaking her neck (and, it seemed, her back), one of the two, for all the familiarity, had been drained. Drained. Though familiar with the production we were not, it was evident, inured to it.
2 It had been rather less than two hours since the curtain had risen on the two-levels, the upper where the high-class were at table, and the lower, (and the even lower) below the table. The action was taking place, and would be confined to, the lower world. There was something of the abattoir about the place; something of the torture chamber. A whiff, perhaps, of sado-masochism. A naked woman, a plaything of the soldiers. At the back, close to the showers, a woman dressing.
