New European Ensemble excels in critically acclaimed Phaedra in Flames

With Phaedra in Flames, the New European Ensemble has opened the new season in striking fashion. Directed by Ola Mafaalani and written by Nino Haratischwili, the production was met with wide acclaim from both critics and audiences last week.

In its review, Trouw praised the performance as “a warning against the lust for power and populism” – a timely and compelling statement that lends new weight to the classical tragedy of Phaedra. Both de Volkskrant and NRC awarded the production four stars, commending the intensity of the performances and the seamless interplay between music and theatre.

“The four string players of the ensemble sound phenomenal. In the music you feel Persea’s drive!”
— Orpheus Magazine

The New European Ensemble forms the musical core of the production. Through live performance — interwoven with Mafaalani’s physical direction and Haratischwili’s layered dramaturgy — emotion becomes palpable, and the tragic tension takes on a new depth.

Theaterkrant and 8Weekly also noted how Mafaalani and Haratischwili expose the ways in which women continue to navigate a world still shaped by male power. The ensemble’s music acts as the heartbeat of that struggle — at times whispering, at times blazing, but always inescapably present.

Phaedra in Flames is a co-production of Het Nationale Theater and the New European Ensemble, and will tour theatres across the Netherlands in the coming months.

Find out when Phaedra in Flames is playing near you.

Photo’s: Bart Grieten