One of our new shows is Salome at the Olivier Theatre, National on the Southbank near the London Eye. The show is scheduled to run from 2nd May to 15th July 2017.
The story of Salome may have been told previously, but this new play by Yaël Farber brings it to us in a different way.
The “original” Salomé play was written by Oscar Wilde and was loosely based on a story from the New Testament. The setting is biblical times in Judea – which was an historical region somewhere near today’s Palestine. Salomé is the step-daughter of King Herod. The story differs from the Bible story when it refers to the revenge on John the Baptist when he calls into question the legality of the marriage between Herod and Herodias (Salomé’s mother).
When the play was written, any public performance of a play which portrayed a Biblical character was forbidden and so it was written in French and performed first in France, and not until 1918 was it first performed in Britain, several years after Wilde’s death.
In the new play, Yaël Farber tells the story of an occupied desert nation, A radical from the wilderness on hunger strike. A girl whose mysterious dance will change the course of the world. This re-telling puts Salomé in the centre of a revolution.
Internationally acclaimed director Yaël Farber (Les Blancs) has created her urgent, hypnotic production on the Olivier stage.
Salome tickets are now on sale with a starting price of £44.