“Janni Younge brought this captivating opera to life with her ensemble, creating an all-encompassing sensory experience with dancers and puppeteers… a first-class emotional spectacle.
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Aci, Galatea, and Polifemo, a captivating tale of love, longing, and transformation amidst violence, draws its dramatic power from the intertwined destinies of three mythical figures. Rooted in Greek mythology, these characters embody timeless aspects of humanity’s profound connection to the natural world. Galatea, the sea and its emerging figure, represents fluidity and ever-changing transformation. Aci, the earth’s life-giver, evolves from a land creature to a human, while Polifemo embodies the raw, volatile power of nature—the climate, the bedrock of the earth.
As the story unfolds, each character undergoes transformations that mirror their emotional journeys. Handel’s exquisite music weaves together the intimate human relationships within this narrative, resonating with the shared experiences of love, loss, anguish, and destruction that permeate both individuals and societies.
Puppetry, dance, and physical movement are central to our performance, bringing these mythic figures to life. Puppetry, with its innate metaphorical power, gives breath to the inanimate. Breath connects performers and audience, creating a shared empathy that reflects our interconnectedness with each other and with the natural world—underscoring the themes of transformation and renewal that define Aci, Galatea, e Polifemo.
Roberta Mameli as Galatea with sea creatures
Directing the Production
Aci lives as a shepherd at the foot of Mount Etna and is Galatea’s lover. He himself is the son of Faunus, god of forests and shepherds, and the Sicilian river nymph Symaithis, but bears very human features. After his murder by Polifemo and his subsequent transformation into a river, described in Ovid’s Metamorphosis, Aci was identified with the fiume di Jaci, which had its source on Mount Etna and reached the sea near Catania. Today, the names of many villages in the area such as Acireale, Aci Castello, or Aci Sant’Antonio refer to the mythological figure.
Galatea is considered the most beautiful of the Nereids, the 50 daughters of the sea god Nereus. Her name may either stand for “goddess of the calm sea” (galênê = calm + theia = goddess) or “the milk-white” (galaktos), which alludes to the white foam of the waves as well as the milk of sheep and other animals, as whose guardian she was worshipped around Mount Etna. While Galatea rejects the Cyclops Polifemo in Ovid’s version of the story, they become a couple in other traditions and have a son together, Galates.
Polifemo is the son of the sea god and “earth-shaker” Poseidon and the sea nymph Thoosa. The giant Cyclops (“one-eyed”) first appears as a man-eating cave-dweller in Homer’s Odyssey, where Odysseus and his men escape from his captivity thanks to a ruse. In his Metamorphoses, Ovid tells of Polifemo’s futile courtship of Galatea. In an earlier tradition, the Cyclopes also appear as assistant smiths of the fire god Hephaistos, who live in fire-breathing mountains like Mount Etna and forge armor and weapons for the great heroes.
Puppet Design
Credits
George Frideric Handel (1685–1759)
Aci, Galatea e Polifemo
Dramatic Serenata HWV 72 (1708)
Libretto by Nicola Giuvo
Akademie für Alte Musik Berlin
Georg Kallweit Concertmaster
Roberta Mameli Aci
Sophie Rennert Galatea
Luigi De Donato Polifemo
Janni Younge Direction
Janni Younge with Luke Younge and Sean Mac Pherson Design
Elvis Sibeko Choreography
Lize-Marie Wait Light Design and Stage Management
Illka Louw Costumes
Mongiwekhaya, Lubabalo Pupu, Vuyolwethu Nompetsheni, Roshina Ratnam, Sven-Eric Müller, Nathi Mngomezulu, Sophie Joans, Keishia Solomon Visual Performance
Photography Peter Adamik
Video Ede Muller
