I Didn’t Know Where To Put All My Tears / Curlew River

A river of no return

Truth or illusion, life or death... where are the boundaries when a person is plunged into madness? Inspired by Noh theatre, where all the roles, even the female ones, are performed by men, Benjamin Britten imagined Curlew River as the parable of a woman recounting her son's disappearance, her ‘madness’ gradually becoming the expression of an inner strength. 

Silvia Costa imagined this piece as a diptych with Serbian composer Marko Nikodijević's world premiere as part of the opera creation laboratory, NOX (Nancy Opera Xperience). Substituting a female chorus for the male one, this work recounts the origins of the mysterious river: a woman digs into the earth with her hands and the tears she sheds give life to the river as a place to mourn her own fate. 

The director, who also wrote the libretto, interweaves the two stories in a production inspired by the codes of Japanese theatre, where simplicity, abstraction and silence become powerful vectors of emotion.

A film, a book and a conference to delve deeper:

• Innocence (Hirokazu Kore-eda, 2023): This film explores the complexity of children's relationships, adult responsibility and the blurred lines between victim and perpetrator. The film's subtle, fragmented narrative reveals a society that is quick to judge, where marginality and difference become suspect. Echoing Britten's opera, it shares the same search for redemption, examining inner suffering through a tale of silence and restraint. (Showing at the Cinéma Cameo Commanderie, more information here)
• Five Modern Noh (Yukio Mishima): An excellent gateway to the world of Noh theatre, whose structure and symbolic aesthetics are echoed in Curlew River (Gallimard, Du monde entier collection).
• What did Britten discover when he discovered Noh theatre? With Jean-Pierre Marchand, philosopher (art, architecture, aesthetics).
  Wed 11 March at 6pm at the Opéra. (more information here)

VIP evening on 31 March
Are you a pass Culture beneficiary? On the 31 March, enjoy a VIP evening at the single price of €10 (places are limited)! Before the performance, enjoy a welcome drink, a tour of the Opéra, a meeting with the artists in the auditorium, and an introduction to the performance. To book, click here.

Duration
1 h 45 without interval

Prices
5 - 85 €

Show in English and latin, surtitles
From 14 years

I Didn’t Know Where To Put All My Tears

Commissioned by the Opéra national de Nancy-Lorraine , world premiere on 29 March 2026 at Nancy

Silvia Costa,
with extracts from The River Sumida by Jûrô Motomasa and Te lucis ante terminum

Marko Nikodijević

Jug Marković

Curlew River, A Parabel for Church performance, chamber opera

First performed on 12 June 1964 at St Bartholomew's Church (Orford, Suffolk)

William Plomer, based on the Japanese play Noh, The River Sumida by Jûrô Motomasa

Benjamin Britten

Opéra national de Nancy-Lorraine

Opéra de Rennes

Alphonse Cemin

Renaud Madore

Silvia Costa

Camille Assaf

Michele Taborelli

Marco Giusti

Simon Hatab

Rosabel Huguet

Chelsea Lehnea

Dima Bawab,
Emmanuelle Jakubek,
Inés Lorans,
Pauline Nachman (double du Voyageur),
Norma Nahoun,
Camille Poul,
Parveen Savart (double du Passeur),
Michiko Takahashi

Zhengyi Bai

Mark Stone

Michael Mofidian

Thomas Day
(Trinity Boys Choir's student)

Stephan Loges

Benjamin Colin,
Hyeseong Jeong,
Yongwoo Jung,
Ill Ju Lee,
Wook Kang,
Jinhyuck Kim,
Christophe Sagnier,
Xavier Szymczak