Calixto Bieito, “one of Europe’s most exciting theatre directors”, is to be at the helm of The String Quartet’s Guide to Sex and Anxiety which will have its world première at Birmingham REP.
Arguably the most sought-after European opera and theatre director of his generation, Calixto Bieito will direct Cathy Tyson, Mairead McKinley, Miltos Yerolemou and Nick Harris alongside The Heath Quartet.
The String Quartet’s Guide to Sex and Anxiety is “an exploration of the effects that the 21st century is having on our mental wellbeing: an examination of minds, attitudes and how we live today, particularly in a very fast-moving digital world”.
It combines text from a variety of sources, including Robert Burton’s The Anatomy of Melancholy, first published in the 1620s, as well as a number of writers and philosophers. Music performed by The Heath Quartet will include Beethoven String Quartet No.15 in A Minor, Op. 132 and Ligetti String Quartet No. 2.
Bieito said, “The String Quartet’s Guide to Sex and Anxiety is like a symphonic poem for a quartet of musicians and a quartet of voices. It will consider the human condition today, and where anxiety and depression stem from. The show will be about how the current times are affecting the quality of our lives as well as our fears, and I hope it will be both entertaining and enlightening.”
Cathy Tyson has played many leading ladies from Cleopatra to Lady Bracknell while Miltos Yerolemou took the role of Fool in King Lear at the Royal Exchange Theatre, Manchester in 2016.
Mairead McKinley played Eileen in Ryan Craig’s Filthy Business at Hampstead Theatre in 2017 and Maire in Translations by Brian Friel at the National Theatre in 2005. Nick Harris was in North by Northwest—a new production of the Hitchcock classic by Australian director Simon Phillips which opened at Theatre Royal Bath before transferring to the Royal Alexandra Theatre, Toronto.
Formed in 2002 at the Royal Northern College of Music, The Heath Quartet consists of Oliver Heath (violin), Sara Wolstenholme (violin), Gary Pomeroy (viola) and Christopher Murray (cello).
The String Quartet’s Guide to Sex and Anxiety runs at Birmingham REP from Saturday 12 until Saturday 19 May. It then tours to Brighton Festival, Les Théâtres De La Ville De Luxembourg, Bilbao’s Teatro Arriaga and Holland Festival.