Description
Director Dan Ayling introduces George Benjamin and Martin Crimp’s opera Lessons in Love and Violence, ahead of our semi-staged performance with the London Philharmonic Orchestra.
Based on Christopher Marlowe’s play Edward II, Lessons in Love and Violence tells the story of a king who openly takes a male lover, Gaveston, while his queen, Isabel, must keep up the public face of a royal marriage. The country is on the brink of famine and civil war while the king spends lavishly on entertainments for himself and Gaveston. When his political adviser Mortimer challenges him, the king banishes him and strips him of everything. This sets off a chain of events that will cost him his crown.
Dan explores the opera’s gripping love triangle, Mortimer’s journey from nothing back to power, and the question the opera leaves us with: will history repeat itself? He also explains his approach to the semi-staging. With no big set or costumes and only minimal props, the focus falls on the performers, the music and the text. Finally, he describes the shimmering, spellbinding music of George Benjamin and the precise, hypnotic words of librettist Martin Crimp, a partnership that has produced some of the most powerful operas of our time.
🎟 Hear it live on Wednesday 25 November 2026 – https://lpo.org.uk/event/lessons-in-love-and-violence/
Chapters
00:00 The story: Marlowe’s Edward II
01:12 Mortimer is banished
01:41 Mortimer: a fascinating character
03:00 The collision of love and power
03:30 Seven scenes and a stripped-back staging
04:30 George Benjamin’s music
04:56 Martin Crimp’s words and a unique partnership
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