Sappho is coming to London

Wendy Beckett’s Sappho is a new play inspired by the famous Greek poet,  integrating the original poetry with contemporary music and dance.  It will première in its English version at Southwark Playhouse Elephant from 3 May 3 to 25 May.

The original Greek production was created in Hydrama Theatre in August 2022 before touring to Andros, Delphi and Rhodes. Wendy Beckett and Adam Fitzgerald co-direct, both making their UK directorial debuts. They lead a multi-national creative team with Halcyon Pratt, Fotis Diamantopoulos, and Mehdi Bourayou all transferring with the production from Greece.

INTERVIEW

Ahead of this UK première we asked Sappho composer and fellow Frenchman Mehdi Bourayou a few questions about his work and the production.

What was your first artistic love? Music or acting?

Music first, I’m a pianist, but I met comedy very early in my professional life. So I evolved in the small world of ‘musical plays’ and I was singer in a family musical called Le Soldat Rose

How did you get involved with Wendy Beckett et Adam Fitsgerald? 

I first worked with Wendy and Adam in Paris in 2020. When Wendy decided to present one of her play in Paris. It was at l’Athénée Théâtre; a beautiful and very classy place in Paris. Two years later, she put me in her lugagges to Athens.

How does your experience as an actor inform your creativity as a composer? 

I was mainly and still am, an actor and musician on stage. So I know well what are the needs, the concerns, the little and huge fears of artists on stage. It helps me creating and setting up music and sound design for a play.

What strikes you about Sappho’s writings? 

Humour is present in every line! I have sincere love and respect for that incredible character.

What role does music play in this production? 

As Wendy wanted choreography to play a center role in this set-up, music was designed for dancing. With both modernity: use of synths in the instrumentation that I dedicated to Gods, Fate … and a bit of local folklore with the use of the Bouzouki, to  localise us musically in Greece.

How did touring in Greece inspire your work? 

I lack space to describe how deep blue sea, pristine sky and the sound of crickets of this Mediterranean land of Gods can inspire. Our tour bus was … a boat. Hard times!