Who is The King in Yellow?
As you may have heard by now, New Voices Opera has offically announced that our Spring 2015 Opera Production will be The King in Yellow by Melody Eòtvòs. It will take place on Friday May 8th at 8pm in the Buskirk-Chumley Theater in downtown Bloomington, IN. A Google search will take you to many outstanding resources discussing Robert W. Chambers' infamous work of macabre fiction upon which this opera is based, but allow me to discuss a few key points.
First of all, if you're a fan of the HBO television series True Detective, you probably have already heard of The King in Yellow (or The Yellow King), as their first season's villain took on that name for himself. If you haven't watched the show, you should consider giving it a try...it's intensely creepy, but the actors and artistic staff pull out all the stops in this riveting crime drama. Plus, there are tons of Easter Eggs in the show that make reference to Chambers' original text, so if you're someone who enjoys finding obscure references in film and television, this show is right up your alley.
But...who is the King in Yellow? He's fiction within fiction. The King in Yellow is a play within the collection of short stories starring The Stranger, who is believed to be the title character. The play surfaces in several different settings and among different characters within the collected stories. The legend surrounding this mysterious play states that it causes insanity among those who read beyond the first act. Reading even a few words of Act II will invoke a curse upon the reader, and supposedly, the play is so engrossing that resisting the temptation to finish the work is nearly impossible.
Similarly mysterious and vaguely discussed, The Yellow Sign is a demonic glyph which, upon possession, exposes the bearer to insideous mind control by The King in Yellow. Several stories within the collection share the common theme, "Have you found the Yellow Sign?" This thematic element inspired H.P. Lovecraft so deeply that he based his character Cthulu and his associated symbol upon The King in Yellow and his Yellow Sign.
If you're still confused about who The King in Yellow actually is and what this work is truly all about...well, I'm pretty sure that's what Chambers intended. It's meant to be odd and eerie, and it's crafted to make the reader feel extremely uneasy. All of the spaces where Chambers has left storyline and characterization up to interpretation has inspired a cult following which has lasted over a century. If your curiosity is not yet satiated, pick up a copy of The King in Yellow and see what you can discover for yourself!
Two excerpts from Melody Eòtvòs's operatic interpretation of this famed work will be premiered tomorrow, Friday Nov 7th at 7pm in Ford-Crawford Hall with an encore performance next Friday Nov 14th at 7pm at the Bloomington Playwrights Project. We encourage you to continue visiting our website for further information about our upcoming spring 2015 production. Stay tuned for an interview with Melody discussing her work and, of course, look out the The Yellow Sign...
Olivia Savage
Director of Development and Marketing
