The Grief of the Red Granny Gorges Ocloo / Toneelhuis & LOD muziektheater

February 7, 1934. King Albert climbs the Rocher du Bon Dieu in Marche-les-Dames and perishes. While two million Belgians reportedly attended the funeral procession, Queen Elisabeth was not even allowed by protocol to attend her husband's funeral.

Elisabeth was a notable public figure, who loved to be surrounded by artists and scientists. At the same time, a haze of mystery surrounds her life. In particular, her visits to the Soviet Union and China in the midst of the Cold War caused great consternation, and gave her nicknames such as ‘the fool of Stuyvenberg’ and ‘the red granny’ at the end of her life.

The Grief of Red Granny is the first part of a diptych on individual and collective grief. In his new AfrOpera, Gorges Ocloo places Elisabeth, the third queen of the Belgians aka the Red Granny, at the centre. Through her story, he gives space and a voice to those who, because of ‘the bigger picture’, did not get a chance to say goodbye to their loved one individually: victims of wars, pandemics, terrorist attacks,...

Elisabeth is joined by six angels: three singers and three musicians, all from South Africa. To the tones of Pergolesi's Stabat Mater, radically arranged by Ocloo, Elisabeth models her own mourning monument.