Queen Page #8

Synopsis: In this reversal of Henry Purcell's famous 1689 aria, 'Dido's Lament,' Queen Dido kills Aeneas by biting him to death, instead of killing herself, as Virgil would have it. Here, Queen Dido is an opera singer from Trinidad who is inspired by the post-coital cannibalism of praying mantises. She sings the famous lament to lure Aeneas, a New York graffiti artist, to her industrial boudoir. Once Aeneas arrives, he is summoned by a strange, giggling and sleepy guard who instructs him to lay down on the Shag Carpet of Death. Aeneas awaits his doom, almost desiring it. When Queen Dido arrives they begin to have sex, an enjoyment that ends in tragedy as Queen Dido carries out her insect-inspired desire.

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