Culture

Listen: putting the east on stage

Prospect's panel discussion at Glyndebourne

July 21, 2015
Kamila Shamsie and Philip Hensher on the panel at Prospect's event. © Sam Stephenson
Kamila Shamsie and Philip Hensher on the panel at Prospect's event. © Sam Stephenson

On Thursday 16th July, Prospect hosted a panel discussion at Glyndebourne Festival Opera ahead of a performance of Mozart’s opera Die Entführung aus dem Serial (The Abduction from the Seraglio). Mozart’s comic work, first staged in Vienna in 1782, is set in the palace of a Turkish Pasha where three Europeans are held against their will. The lively hour-long discussion, entitled “Putting the East on Stage,” explored the problems—and creative possibilities—of presenting a work that features oriental stereotypes, and more broadly how the clash between Islam and the west has been portrayed in European culture over the centuries. Debating the issues were Matthew Dimmock, a professor of early modern studies at Sussex; the novelist and opera librettist Philip Hensher; and the British-Pakistani novelist Kamila Shamsie. The discussion was chaired by Prospect’s Arts and Books editor Sameer Rahim. You can watch the opera for free on Glyndebourne's website until Sunday 26th July.

Listen to the discussion below: