Jane Davidson, Director of the Victorian College of the Arts, likes to describe Handel’s Xerxes as the story of “an impulsive, vain and emotionally immature ruler”. 

Ring any bells? Let’s not jump to conclusions.

Davidson’s new production of Handel’s 1738 opera, presented in collaboration with the Victorian College of the Arts’ Design & Production department, arrives at the Malthouse at a time when just such a figure looms large in our daily headlines. She is wary of making overt contemporary political parallels, however.  The audience, she insists, is perfectly capable when it comes to joining the dots. 

“There’s never been any shortage of vain and impulsive rulers in the world. But what we’re really looking at is a group of characters who can’t see beyond themselves. Handel explores that with enormous humour and irony.”

Instead, Davidson explains, her focus is on the timeless qualities that have made one of Handel’s least successful operas into one of his most beloved – its mixture of satire, romance and emotion.

Set design visulaisation for Xerxes by Lochlan Maher, Bachelor of Fine Arts (Production), University of Melbourne.

First performed in London in 1738, the opera tells...