The fear in us …

In the night a woman is searching for her beloved in the forest and in the end finds him dead. Bluebeard and Judith arrive at the castle. She is fascinated by his air of mystery and wants to marry him despite his frightening reputation. She enters the dark castle and the doors close behind her. There are seven locked doors in the castle hall. Judith believes that her love can transform this inhospitable place. She confesses her love for the castle’s lord and asks him to open the first locked door. He defends himself: “love me and don’t ask any questions”. But he then gives in in the face of her persistence and opens the doors ….

Although Schönberg’s first stage work Expectation and Bartók’s opera Bluebeard’s Castle based on Perrault’s tale Bluebeard were created independently of each other, they are linked by the same psychological themes – expectation, hope and fear, which in the end grow into horrified realisation. David Radok made use of this in his production and linked both operas into a single whole.