William Kentridge Directs Lulu at the Metropolitan Opera

November 5 - December 3, 2015

Opening last Thursday, Alban Berg's classic opera Lulu made a return to the stage in a production at the Met Opera, starring soprano Marlis Petersen and directed by South African artist William Kentridge. Accompanying the opera, Kentridge has created a film using a series of ink, woodcut illustrations shown as a prologue to the performance. The illustrations themselves make visual references to Rorschach's infamous ink blot test as well as Sigmund Freud, Gustav Mahler and Alban Berg. The series - 68 drawings in total - is projected onto the stage throughout the performance and participates as part of the set.

In conjunction to the performances, Kentridge's drawings will be on view at the exhibition Drawings for Lulu at Marian Goodman in New York, open November 2 - December 19.

Lulu opened November 5th at the Met Opera at Lincoln Center and will run through December 3rd. Read more about the production in T Magazine and The New Yorker.

Left: Drawing for 'Lulu", 2015, Indian ink and red pencil on Shorter Oxford English Dictionary pager, No. 17422. Courtesy of the artist and Marian Goodman Gallery.