PRODUCTION / A WELCOME GUEST
A Welcome Guest, Microopera for a single performer after Dido and Aeneas by Henry Purcel. A project designed by Rafael R. Villalobos and produced by ellen james (2012)
Besides handling the production, photography and videos for A Welcome Guest, we also designed the promotion material, including the poster, playbill and multimedia adaptation of Rafael's work.
About Dido and Aeneas.
A Welcome Guest seeks to recover the forgotten domestic nature of chamber music and the opera genre, bringing it closer to the viewer through minimalism and inviting them to voyeurism. Based on the work of Henry Purcell and Nahum Tate, A Welcome Guest builds on the impossible love of Queen of Carthage and a Trojan prince to reflect on the commitment of a young person that, in his/her isolation, has lost all ability to interact. Dido sees nothing beyond herself: she is locked in an egocentric worldview, where nothing but her existence is meaningless. Aeneas is the projection of his own desires, while the shadow of his fears. Dido unfolds in him to be happy, and folds itself to erase any possibility of achieve happiness. The meeting of Dido and Aeneas is the end of their journeys.
