The myth of the Minotaur is a tale almost as old as storytelling itself, but with The Monster in the Maze Jonathan Dove and Alasdair Middleton have excavated rich, new life from this classic. In this brand new staging by director Anapela Polataivao (Red White and Brass, Wild Dogs Under My Skirt), this story will be told as never before.

When King Minos defeats the Athenians, he metes out his punishment in the cruellest way possible: by destroying their hope for the future. Every year, the king compels the conquered Athenians to send him their youth, to be fed to the terrible beast at the centre of his island’s maze: the Minotaur. As King Minos triumphs, his great monster “will eat your future, it will rip your hope, it will stamp your youth, your children in the sand.”

As the vindictive king will soon learn, however, these youth will not accept their fate without a fierce challenge. The Monster in the Maze is a story about resistance; about justice; about finding power not in oppression, but in collectivism. Fittingly, then, it’s also a groundbreaking work in its form: a community-focused and community-driven opera in which young and community singers and players stand proudly shoulder-to-shoulder with their professional counterparts, and in which both are integral.

The Monster in the Maze has been roundly praised by audiences, participants and reviewers worldwide, and in its Aotearoa debut season, it will serve as a gorgeous articulation of New Zealand Opera’s reciprocal community kaupapa.