Labyrinth Program Notes
Forest Collective, Abbotsford Convent and Midsumma Festival presents
Labyrinth
Evan J Lawson and Daniel Szesiong Todd
31 January - 8 February, 2025
Abbotsford Convent - Magdalen Laundry & Industrial School, Wurundjeri Woi Wurrung Country
This performance is recommended for mature audiences 16 years and over. This event includes loud or sudden noises and contains scenes featuring the use of a sword. This performance is not seated and includes long periods of standing. You are welcome to let us know if you have any access requirements upon arrival.
Forest Collective acknowledges the Traditional Custodians of the land on which we live, meet, create, and perform this performance, Wurundjeri Woi Wurrung Country. We pay our respects to their Elders, past and present, and extend our respects to all Australian Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Elders, past and present. We recognise and respect their cultural heritage, beliefs, and relationship with the land. We recognise Australian Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples as the first inhabitants of this nation.
Labyrinth is supported by Australian National Academy of Music (ANAM), Hello Music Studios and Noisy Ritual Urban Winery. Our media partners are 3MBS Fine Music Melbourne, Underground Media, and CutCommon.
Cast
Daniel Szesiong Todd Theseus
Teresa Ingrilli Ariadne
Girl Whatever Daedelus
Danaë Killian Minotaur (piano soloist)
Ashley Dougan Dancer
Charlie MacArthur Dancer
Kim Tan Flutes
Alex Macdonald Viola
Creatives
Evan J Lawson Composer, Music Director & Sound Designer
Daniel Szesiong Todd Librettist
Cathy Hunt Director
Ashley Dougan Choreographer
Jane Noonan Costume Designer
Gabe Bethune Lighting Designer
Vitae Veritas Tactile Tour, Audio Descriptions
Jasmin Bardel Graphic Design & Admin
Gem Scerri Marketing Admin
Charlotte Kube Programming Admin
Forest Collective dedicates this season of Labyrinth to beloved Naarm based pianist and singer Dean Sky-Lucas, who touched the hearts of, and worked closely with, many members of this project. Vale Dean Sky-Lucas - you are incredibly missed.
The Labyrinth
The myth goes like this: Minos, King of Crete had the inventor Daedalus build an intricate Labyrinth to house the fearsome Minotaur. Minos then imprisoned Daedalus and his son Icarus in a high tower to protect the secret design of the structure. Daedalus constructed wings of feathers and wax for them to escape, but Icarus flew too close to the sun, his wings melted and he fell into the sea and drowned. Minos then imprisoned the distraught Daedalus in the Labyrinth itself.
The Athenians were forced to send an annual tribute of seven youths to wander the labyrinth to be devoured by the Minotaur. The third time this tribute was due, King Aegeus’ own son Theseus volunteers to go. Ariadne, daughter of Minos gives him a ball of thread to find his way back through the labyrinth and a sword. Theseus and Ariadne escape together and sail from Crete. Theseus later leaves the sleeping Ariadne on the island of Naxos. Theseus had promised to change his ship’s sails from black to white on the return journey but forgets so his father flings himself over the cliffs into the sea, believing Theseus has failed in his mission and is gone.
Composer’s message
Labyrinth is a psychological dance-opera that bridges the mythological and the contemporary, exploring themes of shame, guilt, family secrets, and the courage it takes to bring light into the shadows. Forest Collective premiered Labyrinth last year in Abbotsford Convent’s intimate gallery space of The Store, capturing the twisting, disorienting essence of the labyrinth beneath King Minos’s palace. In this new season, Labyrinth becomes an even greater immersive experience, now staged in the sprawling, warehouse-like spaces of the Magdalen Laundry and the Industrial School.
These monumental venues have inspired significant updates to the production. The creative team, led by director Cathy Hunt, have adapted the staging to fill the expansive new spaces. Librettist (and tenor) Daniel Szesiong Todd and I have created new scenes to deepen the narrative’s emotional resonance. The intrepid Teresa Ingrilli joins us again as Ariadne, Daniel as the hero Theseus, and Girl Whatever as the lost architect of the labyrinth, Daedalus. I have also changed the work to include violist Alex Macdonald, whose contributions enrich the score’s textured soundscapes alongside a virtuosic solo part for Danaë Killian (piano), and Kim Tan (flute). You will also hear electronic soundscapes, saturating the space with an enveloping, immersive aural experience.
Musically, Labyrinth remains rooted in the motivic and harmonic themes of its original form but has evolved into (I hope) a more sophisticated and introspective work. I hope its expanded score will aid in the work's heightened emotions.
We hope that this work is one that resonates with you. Explore the labyrinth with us.
Librettist’s message
The spark for Labyrinth came from the bronze sculpture ‘Minotaur Reading’ by British artist Beth Carter. This sculpture depicts a youthful minotaur, hunched over a little book. His expression is sombre and gentle – a far cry from traditional depictions of the minotaur as a terrifying, violent beast.
A little research revealed that the minotaur was first named ‘Asterion’ – a tender and loving name, which means ‘little star’. His mother, Queen Pasiphaë of Crete, had been cursed by the sea god Poseidon because her husband, King Minos, refused to sacrifice a sacred bull to the god. As punishment for her husband’s sacrilege, Pasiphaë was doomed to fall in love with the sacred bull and, with the help of the morally disinterested engineer Daedalus, she built a hollow cow puppet to enable the bull to have sex with her.
The resulting child was Asterion, the ‘minotaur’, which means ‘Bull of Minos’. An innocent hybrid baby, on whom the disgraced royal family heaped their own shame and failure. Instead of receiving love and nurture, this child was hidden away and brutalised. He was buried in a stone labyrinth, again created by Daedalus, and fed living human sacrifices from conquered Athens.
Enter the ‘hero’, Theseus – the abandoned, bastard child of King Aegeus of Athens, who is striving for his father’s approval by attempting to kill the beast. He is aided by Ariadne – Princess of Crete and the minotaur’s half-sister. This sorry legacy has been the narrative thread of her life, and she will use spun woollen thread to guide Theseus through the labyrinth. But what is her motivation for helping a stranger kill her brother Asterion?
This ancient myth is filled with children dealing with the legacy of their parents’ prejudice and shame – shame which was literally buried underground. And this is not something we have left in the past. Even today, we sometimes bury our feelings of shame deep in our own labyrinths, perhaps without even realising that their origins lie in other people’s prejudice.
As Ariadne warns in the opera: ‘Shame cannot be buried forever – one day it must erupt.’
Please find a handy guide on how to get to the Magdalen Library linked here.