Philemon and Baucis, Ariadne and Theseus, Helios a Phaethon, Iphis, Amor or Marsyas... Roman poet Publius Ovidius Naso compiled his unprecedented opus in the year 2 AD, where he collected the essential mythological narratives of the Ancient Greek epoch – at that time nearing its end – in a single, chronologically arranged whole. The cycle of notorious stories, from the pagan version of the Creation of the World and the ensuing Titanomachy to the account of the lives of ancient heroes, gods or demigods, which now forms the cultural and historical fundaments inherent to the Western civilization, has one remarkable common denominator: the motif of metamorphosis, or transformation. This ubiquitous principle of existence has been ingrained in humankind since the dawn of time in terms of both an infinite philosophical problem and an eternal hope. Ovid’s immortal epic poems reveals figurative yet concrete and comprehensible parable about physical and metaphysical metamorphoses – subtle or devastating, intimate or global – and invite us to consider our perception of European traditions, but also the general ways of searching for truth, whether over time or deep inside our own soul.

Metamorphoses

State Opera

After 15 years, a Baroque opera is returning to the National Theatre repertoire, and after a full quarter-century the National Theatre staged a work by Jean-Philippe Rameau, the guru of 18th-century French opera: the globally renowned comédie lyrique Platée, which, however, has never before been performed in the entire history of the National Theatre and the State Opera, and its predecessor, the Neues deutsches Theater.

Jan Kodet

Events

Upcoming events

Sep 28 - Dec 9, 2026

Metamorphoses · Národní divadlo

Mar 7, 2027

Platée · Národní divadlo

Past events

Sep 28 - Dec 9, 2026

Metamorphoses · Národní divadlo

About

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