If you are traveling to Zagreb and looking for cultural content, we suggest that you visit the Kazalište Komedija and see the Musical Byron.
The action takes place in Venice in 1820. The focus of attention is on two sisters in love with the same man, the English Romantic poet, Lord George Gordon Byron. The sisters Maria and Brigitte are Austrian, and their father is a general sent as a military commander to Venice, which came under the Austrian crown in the wake of the Napoleonic wars. The Venetians rebel against the ruler imposed on them, and their rebellion is supported by Byron himself, so that his emotional love story unfolds against the backdrop of a strong social and political turmoil. Two dozen likable heroes, tangled up in unexpected love and life traps, parade through this dynamic story full of unexpected twists.
In a time unsympathetic to emotions, our heroes will experience the strongest exalted love, which would throw them into dramatic, as well as comic situations. A universal story unfolding in the romantic and sensual 19th-century Venice, mirroring Europe with heroes coming from different nations, embraced by a strong and noble music, a masterly direction and lavish orchestration, will lead us towards an unforgettable theatrical magic.
The musical Byron, created through an excellent collaboration of the writer Miro Gavran and composer Darko Domitrović, narrates Lord Byron’s turbulent love story during his stay in Venice in the 1820s.
The renowned English Romanticist and poet Lord George Gordon Byron is the object of desire of two sisters, Maria and Brigitte, Austrians whose father was sent as the supreme military commander to Venice, which came under the Austrian crown in the wake of the Napoleonic wars. Refusing to accept the imposed Austrian rulers, the Venetians protest and instigate social turmoil and rebellions. Byron himself joins the rebellions, experiencing during those turbulent political times an exalted love full of dramatic, as well as comic situations.
Parallel with the political tension which was growing in Venice, also unravels Byron’s love, as well as life story, which brings him, among other places, also to a mysterious Armenian monastery. Torn between different aspects of his persona, in this lavishness and fight between the good and evil in himself, we can recognize in Byron the full complexity of one’s own life choices, secret desires and illusive life situations. Even if we cannot identify ourselves with many of his choices, it is also difficult to resist falling in love with him at the same time, while he arouses in us different emotions regarding life choices and reactions that are difficult to justify.
A striking feature in Byron is his political and social engagement, which reveals him as a very intelligent, lively and passionate person, which in the present day is very stimulating and intriguing. In this episode of Byron’s life, in addition to the emotional story of one of the most widely read British poets, we also follow the stories of other heroes of this musical, tangled up in various unexpected love and life twists. Considering that the action of the musical takes place during the Carnival, faces are revealed not only behind carnival masks, but also behind everyday masks of Byron’s friends and acquaintances. The universal love-life story unfolding in the 19th-century Venice, with heroes coming from different lands and having different national charges, anticipating the present-day multiculturality, reaches its peak enriched by a strong and noble music, masterly direction and lavish orchestration, which will enthral you in the best possible theatrical way.
For more information about Musical Byron and the tickets visit www.komedija.hr
